Have we now deteriorated into some sort of banana republic where pressure groups dictate public policy and the rule of law be damned?
"Have we now deteriorated into some sort of banana republic where pressure groups dictate public policy and the rule of law be damned?"
Yes.
If we aren't a banana republic, we are getting very, very close to the edge of the cliff. The 2000 election was very close to a turd world election, IIRC. And the band keeps playing "Nearer My God to Thee."
No, if this were a banana republic then our schools would be propaganda instruments for nonce ideology instead of refined institutions of dispassionate learning.