By Fabiha Khan There’s a quiet unease hanging in the air these days—one that doesn’t always make headlines, but lingers in conversations, social media scrolls, and the pauses between political debates. It’s a question more Americans are starting to ask, sometimes aloud, sometimes in silence: Is our democracy still working the way it should? The Promise vs. The Practice Democracy, at its core, is about people having a voice. It’s about fairness, representation, and the belief that no one is above the law. That’s the promise. But what we’re seeing in 2025 feels a little more complicated. We’ve come a long way from the founding ideals, and while many of those ideals were flawed from the start, there’s been a constant fight to expand freedom and equality. From civil rights to voting rights, generations have pushed the needle forward. But lately, it feels like we’re stuck in a tug-of-war between progress and regression. Polarization: The New Normal? Politics used to be about deb...