"Democracies don’t die because of a lack of checks and balances. They die because the people in charge of those checks and balances act in cahoots with the want-to-be-dictator," says Ben Goebel in his opinion piece.

"I could never take for granted that my three boys would return home each night. They are men now, but I still don’t sleep," says contributor Lynette Hazelton in this personal column.

"We have a responsibility as nurses to speak up when we see violence, harm, and injustice being performed against others," says guest columnist Marion Leary.