Some Important Thoughts for the Fifth of July

This had to wait for today.  Yesterday wasn’t the right time;  that was  Independence Day,  the time for our heartfelt  celebration of the birth of the USA. The flags, fireworks, and food were  our traditional way of remembering and celebrating our liberation from  tyranny,  and our successful establishment of a democracy.

Today, however,  is the right day for a little follow-up thinking….about  “freedom”,  “patriotism”, and the condition of our democracy.

If I get a pet – or a plant - I have to watch over it and care for it, or it may not survive.  The same holds true for any car,  any business,  and, for that matter, any relationship.

And so it is with a democracy. Ben Franklin was famously accosted by a Philadelphia lady who asked him, “What kind of nation are you gentlemen creating for us in that hall?”  Sternly he replied, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

That  answer echoes  through the centuries.  After we take a breath from chanting  “We’re number one!” and “USA! USA!”, it’s time to take a good look at what kind of shape we’ve allowed our democracy to be in.

It seems  that to most of us, “democracy” means two things. One is personal freedom.–  freedom  to….do nearly anything we want,  short of harming others,  and freedom  from…..unreasonable  control by authorities.

Until recently, we thought we had the Fourth Amendment – “freedom from unreasonable search and seizure” – protecting our privacy, thus helping to keep our personal freedom maximized and authority’s control minimized.  Now, sadly, we  know much better.  

Several  government  agencies (FBI, CIA, NSA, DHS, etc.) have access to every phone call, cell call, and  email, and every online chat, purchase, inquiry, or transaction you send out.  Insiders have admitted that yes, they can dive into the content of your calls, not just the “metadata”.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s  NY Times  revealed  that  the Post Office  “…photographs the exterior of every piece of paper mail…..about 160 billion pieces last year….The information is sent to (any) law enforcement agency that asked for it.” Now the government and the telecom companies are discussing the possibility of  implanting their little phones with chips that could listen to each conversation.

We’ve been assured – by the people in charge, of course – that it’s all based on legal rulings,  monitored by special courts (e.g. FISA), and would never be abused. However, those rulings have been kept secret, those courts operate in total secrecy,  and  abuses have already been committed. Groups working peacefully for animal rights, environmental protection, advocacy for the poor, military withdrawal, financial reform, and simple political opposition have been secretly monitored, and then harassed, raided, rounded up, and even jailed.

We also associate democracy with fairly  elected representative government. However,  the Republicans have come up with a steady stream of creative ways to prevent several  million legitimate voters  from voting... ….people  in groups that tend to vote strongly for Democrats. The GOP has also organized and/or funded  one national group (“True the Vote”) that trains in polling-place harassment techniques , and another that systematically “loses” or destroys hundreds of thousands of  Democrats’ registrations and votes in each election. Finally, there is voluminous documentation on rigged voting/tabulating machines – always shifting votes from Democrats  to GOP – but the mainstream media won’t touch that story. 

Not so good on “fairly”; what about “representative”?  Well, time after time, “We the People” have been crystal clear - through poll numbers - about what we  want:  single-payer insurance, prosecution of top bankers,  strong banking/finance reform,  reasonable gun safety measures, GMO labeling….60-80 % in favor of every  one….and one party, both, or both and  Obama have swatted each one away.

And  then  there’s  everyone’s  top  issue:  jobs. The Republicans gained plenty of power in 2010 by promising a “laserlike focus on jobs.”  Since then, they’ve done nothing of the sort…too busy, no doubt, fighting  Obamacare and abortion. Worse, the GOP  Senate minority  (representing most of our lowest-population states)  has used the filibuster to kill three million jobs’ worth of bills, including desperately needed infrastructure repair.

I strongly suspect that our Founders would read these last two paragraphs as a low-key sort of tyranny, but tyranny nonetheless.

Thus, we need a different concept of “patriotism”. Waving the flag, singing the anthem,  taking blind comfort and pride in “We’re number one!”…..anyone can do those. Real patriotism – the kind we need now – means embracing democracy as another thing  we’ve got to carefully  watch over and care for (as suggested in paragraphs 3-4). Here’s how:

Step One: Break Free.  Walk away from the big screens and put down the little handheld screens.  (OK – at least cut back somewhat.)  You’ll be surprised how much new time you can create.

Step Two:  Start Reading  about what’s going on “out there” – not just the DC politics, but  conditions and trends all over the country.  The papers and networks can’t be totally trusted;  use the Internet.  My personal recommendation is Buzzflash.com,  a huge title-index of articles on many topics, from many sources.

Step Three:  Get Active – join a political group. It’s exciting to work with others  who see things the same as you do, and are putting that into political action.

Be patriotic:  help take good care of our democracy!