When democracy weakens, imagination suffers. And without imagination — without art, innovation, and free expression — our ability to solve problems and build a better future collapses. Creativity is not a luxury. It is the oxygen of progress, the very force that allows societies to renew themselves in times of turmoil.
A democracy that silences its artists is already in decline.
A democracy that empowers them has a future.
If America is serious about defending democracy, it must defend creativity with equal urgency as the Prebys Foundation did recently. More to come, I hope. Why is this so crucial? Because Democracy in America is in crisis, and you can see it in bitter polarization, endless fights over voting rights, and record-low trust in government. But there’s another crisis casualty we rarely talk about: our creativity.
At its core, democracy is more than voting. It is a system that protects free speech, nurtures pluralism, and gives people space to imagine alternatives. In short, it creates the conditions for creativity. That foundation is cracking.
Across the United States, school districts are banning books — from To Kill a Mockingbird to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Arts programs are cut first when budgets tighten, dismissed as indulgences instead of investments. Libraries, once neutral civic havens, are attacked, defunded, or turned into ideological battlegrounds. Even science has become a partisan territory, where facts are discarded if they conflict with political scripts.
This is not just a culture war — it is a democratic decline in real time. A society that fears free expression and devalues creativity is a society that no longer trusts itself. Fear replaces curiosity, conformity suffocates originality, and suspicion chokes off collaboration.
The consequences reach beyond classrooms and galleries. Creativity drives economies, fuels innovation, and powers the resilience of communities. America became a global leader not just through military might or economic power, but through its capacity to imagine — whether in Silicon Valley, on Broadway, or in the civil rights movement. To erode creativity is to weaken our competitive edge and our moral authority.
Meanwhile, nations with strong democracies — Norway, Finland, New Zealand — show us a different path. They rank highest not only in democratic strength but also in innovation, cultural investment, and social trust. They understand a simple truth: democracy and creativity reinforce each other. Where people are free to speak, dissent, and dream, societies flourish.
History provides stark warnings. When democracy falters, authoritarian regimes silence artists and thinkers first. In Nazi Germany, books were burned before people were imprisoned. In the Soviet Union, writers and composers were censored, surveilled, or exiled. In today’s Russia, China, and Iran, dissidents and artists still face intimidation, imprisonment, or worse. Creativity is always the first target because it dares to imagine alternatives — and alternatives are what authoritarianism fears most.
America should take note. Defending democracy cannot stop at securing elections or counting ballots. It must also mean protecting classrooms where students learn to think differently, keeping libraries open as spaces of discovery, and funding the arts and sciences that expand our collective imagination. If democracy is the guardrail, creativity is the engine. One cannot survive without the other.
We face a choice. We can let fear and polarization shrink our culture until only the loudest and wealthiest voices remain. Or we can recommit to the democratic principles that make creativity possible: free expression, inclusion, curiosity, and a willingness to imagine together.
John M. Eger is professor emeritus in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. He previously served as telecommunications advisor to President Gerald R. Ford, legal assistant to FCC Chairman Dean Burch, and Senior Vice President of CBS.
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