Like most things in this world, Democracy is built on trust. A core group of people get together and decide to accept good will from each other, even when they disagree. When this trust operates in the minds of its adherents, a democracy moves along, sometimes plodding, sometimes sprinting. Markets work well, enhancing our pocketbooks hopefully, society collaborates together to produce something, legal systems work together to protect and keep people safe from the darker parts of our communities and all in all a general feeling of well being or stability is engendered.
I have found a renewed interest in Democracies in recent years because I have felt that we could lose it. For most of my years I felt no such thing. I felt honestly like it would just go on and on. It was hard to imagine that there was anything better than our form of democracy or anything to replace it.
For nearly 100 years now we have felt threatened by communism and its related forms of totalitarian control. I trained at Fort Hood to fight against Russia and its Soviet Bloc partners to hold Communism back from spreading into Europe. Our scenarios and strategies were designed to stop Russian Mechanized invaders from entering into Western Germany and conquering the rest of the continent.
Somehow, I don’t think that is a likely scenario today. Notwithstanding the brutal aggression from Russia in Ukraine, I just don’t see Russia conquering the rest of the European West. It seems like there are lots of smart people that do of course and we operate NATO for that kind of possibility.
I mention all this because I think the greater threat to our diminished democracy is not Russia, or China, or you name it. I think it is an uninformed and uncaring citizenry that lives in said Democracy but little understands what keeps it strong and vibrant and free.
There have been quite a few democracies of various stripes and most of them are gone. My view is that they are gone because they struggled to remain focused on their purpose and their true power. Their citizens died in spirit before their nations died in reality. To go from Democracy with all its possibilities to go to Democrazy with all its failings should rouse one to return to a search of purpose and the use of power for good. We still have a lot of power in the US, more than most others I would say. But we are at a particularly vulnerable time after the last few years.
Now is a good time to look back to the past to remember its failures and successes so we might be guided into a better, more free, more generous and caring people. Too many Democracies have crashed and burned. What will the next decade show us to be?
If you want some reading or thought provoking material, read on Ancient Greece for a start. Then the French Revolution. These two vast topics show how Democracies are taken over by chaos for a time and eventually how they recover, France more so than Greece. There is so much to explore around the writing of our Constitution and quite a bit on Lincoln holding the Constitution in his hands as he tried to hold the Union together. There is more than a lifetime of reading in any of these four areas, but the reward is not in the quantity but the effort.
Society has been seeking freedom in stability for a long time. It is often elusive but over various times for a period we have achieved it. Democracy seems to be the best path forward. A better democracy is up to you and me.
I became a poll worker recently and felt a sense of hope among my coworkers. I enjoyed participating in a small way with them as we watched people exercise their trust in elections. It is not an easy time to trust, but it is a critical time for us to trust each other. Our Democracy depends on it. Get involved in trust building.