I fail to see how middle school, by default, as an institution is essential to democracy, and I don’t see how democracy is essential to freedom, also left to imagination and not well-defined by most people who use the term.

Perhaps that is the kind of thing they teach in middle school, or used to teach. And that is the problem.

"People use democracy as a free-floating abstraction disconnected from reality. Democracy, in and of itself, is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action. "  — Terry Goodkind, Naked Empire

The United States, for example, is not a democracy. It is a country, a federal constitutional republic made up of 50 states. The Republic has elements of a democratic voting system, but it is not a system of direct democracy, as it is often advertised.

The federal constitutional republic that was once the United States is no more, and that is not though in any middle school I know of, so why would the concept of freedom be any closer to the truth? And what is freedom, anyway? Again, it is not discussed or talked about in any practical capacity.

They are just empty words that people like to use because they have been told by someone that it is a good thing, and they never questioned it. And that is the premise of the video. People are told comfortable lies and indoctrinated into what to think, and in the process, their ability to think critically and independently has been eroded away.

@Krunoslav "Democracy" as a word is thrown about 'cause if you try and make the initial point that the US has never been one -- the commies in the room go "Yeah, yeah and we have the solution for that" and the not-evil ones go "Wut?"

Education to the point of critical thinking is essential to D. (I'm not going to quibble here). If you are not taught that you need to understand what the politico is really saying, then you will be sheep -- which is the goal of modern indoctrination.
This was discussed in pre-high school in my time. I aggravated my parents no end with objections about why I had to do things. With logical arguments -- that got me sent to my room. A family is not a D (or republic), there was a teachable moment.
Freedom can be obtained but never retained without a mechanism available to the populace to chuck out the tyrants -- usually the grandchildren of the first "good" king. Thrashing about with revolutions every few generations prevents the creation of institutions that provide continuity and trust.
So, the populace must be educated at least enough on how to critique potential leaders -- and the leaders must know of the consequences of betraying that trust with a populace that is not a bunch of NPCs.

The trust has been betrayed. And, with the means of insuring a fair and non-corrupt election in doubt, there is probably only one response remaining.

@bobbo666 I personally think the American system is inherently problematic since it has no real fail safe mechanizes built into it. Checks and balances work only if there are moral people with common values the majority in the country and are ever vigilante. At least in theory. In reality, different branches of goverment agree on things behind closed doors and than act if there were no checks and balances.

What kept Americans from what they are today in the past is not in the constitution, it was in the religion. The so called American civil religion of common morality shared by people, as inherited from the Judeo Cristian tradition is what kept people together. With immigration, other religions, technology advancements and new generations who grew up in abundance, the shared morality slowly faded away.

And there is nothing in the constitution protect against that. Its a legal document, not a moral framework for a nation.

And now the system is so problematic that only new systems can be a solution. No matter how many presidents or senators nation elects . they have by legal framework limited powers to make a big change, as Trump has demonstrated. And with no moral safeguards, the whole system only gets worse over time.

I don't think system like it can be reformed or corrected, since its flaws are inherent to the system itself. And its not just America, all the republics suffer same fate, to lesser or harder degree.

The system rewards corruption and over time makes it truly systemic. And than it tries to protect the very same corruption at all cost, turning itself into more and more tyrannical goverment parasite. It does not serve the nation or people, but itself.

At least with kings when you have bad king you kill the king and new king has the power to change everything. With republics, because of its checks and balances that are supposed to protect the people, it does the opposite, it makes actually people interested in change... impotent.

I recognized that the "Indoctrination" System (AKA Education System) got into full swing by 1960!!!
There were a few Educators still in the schools until about the mid 1970's, then they retired!!!
Higher (EDUCATION) Indoctrination was taken over several years earlier!!!