We take democracy for granted, but as author Richard C.Lyons tells it, democracy is a recessive gene. Tyranny is much more able to dominate. Tyranny? What does that ancient word even mean? In his new book: The DNA of Democracy, Lyons seeks to connect the reader with the remarkably slow development of the form of government until it exploded in America (not without difficulty). Tyranny can and has risen through democracies, and has been itself be beaten by democracy. See McCarthyism. And Trumpism? The appeal of tyranny is part laziness: let others do it. But citizenship requires action. Which do you prefer?