--American Heritage Dictionary
Is American democracy on life support? Or is there yet some
hope for our sometimes battered but still standing 236 year old republic?
In 2013 it is sorely tempting to look at Washington, D.C.
and conclude that democracy just might be broken, that our elected leaders are
no longer able to govern us effectively, and that the citizenry is too cranky
and selfish for its own good. Gridlock abounds and is now seemingly the
norm. America is more split along
ideological lines than at any time since the Civil War. Partisanship pounds away at any efforts for
compromise. Money rules in political circles.
Politicians stagger from crisis to crisis, so often postponing the hard
choices, unable to make any kind of resolute decision.
If I was cynic I might draw all those conclusions and even begin
to write a eulogy for democracy. But I can’t, not even with so much evidence to
the contrary. For you see I’m a sucker
for democracy and the spirit of idealism which undergirds it.
Idealism: as Robert F. Kennedy so eloquently described this civic
virtue: "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why'? I dream of things
that never were and say, 'Why not'?" Idealism is, quite simply, hope. For better days to come. Better ways to be
discovered. Better spirits within each
of us. A promised land. Not there yet but always courageously pushing
ahead. Sometimes stumbling but tenaciously
forging towards tomorrow.
And so perhaps the real struggle in our nation these days is
not about politics. Not about red states
versus blue states. Republican against
Democrats. Liberals lambasting
conservatives. Tea Partiers taking to
task Moveon.org. Maybe the real tug of
war is for the soul of America
and whether or not we as citizens still believe that democracy works. Still believe in the best motives on the part
of our fellow citizens. Still believe
that a people, given radical freedoms, can find a way to govern themselves and
achieve the highest good for the greatest number of people. Still believe, in
the words of President Obama, that our best days are yet to come.
Do you still believe in America? I still do.
Sometimes that belief is kind of corny. So yes I tear up when I watch
veterans march in a Memorial Day parade, especially the older ones who proudly embrace
the service they gave to their country. I
get a lump in my throat when a choir of elementary school youth sings “America” at a Martin
Luther King Day celebration and know these kids actually believe that the dream
is still alive. I get the chills when I walk into a voting booth and have the
privilege to cast my ballot in privacy and safety, knowing that millions of
others would die for that gift. I get a little twinge of satisfaction when I
send off my quarterly state and federal tax payments, knowing that in writing
those checks I’m doing and paying my fair share.
Do you still believe in America? I know I did again this
week when I witnessed the inauguration of Barack Obama to a second term as the
President of the United
States, and on Dr. King’s birthday too! What would Obama’s forbears, who just 152
years ago were shackled in the chains of human slavery, think of such a civic
miracle? Could such a revolution have
taken place in any form of governance other than democracy? And no doubt,
sooner than later, it will be a woman who takes that oath. Freedom is sometimes slow in coming but it
cannot be stopped. No room for cynicism
here.
Do you still believe in America? I heard that echo of American idealism in the
movie “Lincoln”
and the eloquent words President Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural
address. The nation lay in tatters. Millions dead. Hundreds of thousands wounded and
refugees. Cries for revenge filled the
air and yet, in idealism and hope, he dared to give America this charge. “With malice toward none, with charity for
all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive
on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for
him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with
all nations.”
So yes, I’m guilty. I do still believe in America and the
promise of American democracy. It is
messy. It is a perpetual work in
progress. It is a grand experiment. It demands idealism as its lifeblood. Cynicism may be chic, may sell newspapers,
may even feel good somehow in a warped way, but cynicism is a cancer in the
body politic.
Do you still believe in America? I’m willing to take that idealistic
leap. Will you?
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