TO DEFEND, STRENGTHEN & EXTEND

Democracy, so the Founders wrote, is always a generation away from being extinguished. And in my threescore years and one, I'd say they are being borne out.
I don't know whether democracy has had such a combination of internal and external threats against it since the 1930s (I tend to worry more about the internal ones) but I think some words about what we want to defend and extend in our country and indeed our civilization as a whole are in order.
First and foremost: democracy. What I mean here is 1) the ability of ever more citizens to have their voices heard and at least registered in the national, provincial, local councils. 2) While this does not and should not mean that my ignorant 'feeling' is as valid as your expertise on (fill in the blank), I do have the right to expect you to be able to express your knowledge in language I can understand. If the great nuclear physicist Lord Rutherford expressed doubt about the utility of any idea which couldn't be put into language which the most ignorant among us can understand, who are any of us to argue that point? I also think that, when a speaker can't or won't pull themselves away from their professional jargon, let's put up our flimflam alerts. 3) It has to include a wealth ceiling for individuals, families and corporations. Without economic democracy, political democracy will be vitiated into being meaningless.
Second: diversity. Not for its own sake (nor are all cultures 'equal' by any means, though whatever healths each has do deserve respect) but because, however much we know, we can always learn infinitely more. And we can always learn new things from just about anyone regardless of wealth or education. Nor does this mean we do not vigorously assimilate new arrivals into our societies. And not digesting the idea of religious liberty (NOT 'toleration'; see Tom Paine's The Rights of Man for further distinction) ought to be seen as a disqualification for entry into our societies. Ditto for freedom of speech and the press.
I wrote that all cultures are not equal. While I stick to this, I should also say any cultural superiority is NEVER due to superior DNA as such! One thing which DOES give a culture superiority is its openness to new genetic material, though. Anyone who knows anything about dogs knows that it's the 'mixed' breeds--that is, the mutts---who live longer and more vigorously than do any purebreds. In the Arab/Muslim world, first cousins have married each other for fourteen centuries. I strongly suspect this, and the dying of innovation and ijtihad and the loss of scientific primacy, are strongly connected!
Not to mention all the hereditary afflictions of royalty and nobility. Thereby one is deposed and the other declines into no-ability! We also need to relearn the art of vigorous yet civil debate to defend what we hold dear for our societies and our civilization.
Last is a trait which seems quite special: a growing intolerance of hypocrisy. But as we hunt hypocrisies, never mind the 'uniforms'--be they outfits, real or purported (cockroach-in-hijab, my sights are fixed on you!) skin tones or whatever. No, pay attention to the behavior patterns. In a conflict which looks intractable, ask these questions: who's willing to share power and land and other resources and who insists on ruling the whole show or they'll ruin it all? Who holds on tighter to 'intangibles'--that is, to purported 'honor' or 'prestige'? And who says (or has said in the recent past) that equality with their adversary would be UNIMAGINABLY SHAMING AND DEGRADING? I can think of two examples right off the bat: one is seen here and the other in the Middle East.
Whoever says the above and shows, underneath all their attempts to hide and camouflage them, such behavior patterns can NOT be our friends and must be the enemies of both our societies and of our civilization--however much they may look and sound like 'us'! Indeed, the smarter they are, the more they'll put on just that gambit!
PS. Spiritual truths will never have quite the same 'shape' for any two of us. Beware especially of ALL those who insist that the same shape or labels are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL! It's not God's people that goose-step in lock-step, but the other guy's troops! OK, I'm done, so feel free to sigh with relief!