Equality in self-determination
The central promise of our constitution - equality of all people in the determination of their legitimate government - has never been fully realized. If we do not act now, it never will be.
This weekend many folk observe a holiday that allows us to play with loss and death, dressing in costume, eating and sharing treats, dancing with our fears. Recognizing the twin nature of life and death as our harvests come to a close helps us face the winter ahead.
Last year we faced the prospects of a deeply contentious presidential election and warnings of a dark pandemic winter. This year, we are still engaged in trying to get the pandemic under control and in defending attacks on democracy. To understand the latter, I highly recommend listening to this interview with journalist Robert Costa.
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/28/1049841180/peril-co-author-robert-costa-trump-insurrection
He describes the findings of his reporting, along with Bob Woodward, regarding the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021. Their investigation reveals another motivation behind the changes in voting laws by many right wing legislatures: preparing to overturn the results of the next presidential election if it does not go their way.
The contesting visions of this country that have always been alive in our political system remain in a pitched battle. Steady progress over decades of conservative court appointments, decline worker power, concentration of wealth, and exaggeration of cultural divides favor the vision of rule by a few. Those who embrace this view pepper our landscape with school board battles, immigration horror stories, and other false narratives that make us fear one another, obscuring our view of the facts.
They hope we won’t notice the erosion of democratic structures, of the central promise of our constitution: equality of all people in the determination of their legitimate government. This promise has never been fully realized. But its power continues to inspire commitment to make it so.
Right now, powerful leaders are strategizing and acting to ensure that most people will not be able to participate in the determination of their government. Right now, billions of dollars are flowing to support their efforts. Every day, we come closer to their vision of securing rule by a minority, disguised as the protection of nominal “freedoms.”
In 2016, this country elected a president with a minority of the popular vote, revealing not only the ongoing weaknesses in our system, but also the power of demagoguery to exploit them. The roots of that election go back decades, perhaps centuries. And the threat did not end with the election of 2020.
If we allow minority rule to become even more entrenched, it will likely take decades, perhaps centuries, to rebuild (and expand) the core vision of equality in self-determination.
Our ability to nurture our communities, reverse the worst impacts of climate change, and keep ourselves and our families healthy, depends on preserving true democracy. The legitimacy of a government is held in the hands of all the people it is meant to serve. Not the people who want to own it.
As always, I am grateful for your company on this journey.