Dear Scribe:
I read your dairy of February 15, Letting Go – Moving On
(http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/2/15/112030/699)
and found it incredibly moving. But on re-reading it and the comments that followed, I became increasingly upset over what I see as a misdirection of your obviously deeply held feelings.
I must tell you that I will not be coming to the wake. Not unless it includes my own. In explanation, I offer the following thoughts:
Do not mourn the passing of those not yet dead that should live.
Do not mourn the passing of those that should not live and have lingered already too long.
There are those that would have you believe that today’s government (or any transitory government) is the same as our democracy. It is not true.
There are those that would have you believe that today’s official representatives of the Democratic Party are the only hope for democracy. It is not true.
There are those that would have you believe that our democracy is a weak and failing patient, for whom we have done all we can, and now futile intervention will only unnecessarily prolong the painful process of death. It is not true.
For those that will join you at this wake I would challenge you and them to look again at what is dying. Then look at what we have done and should be doing to save that which still has and deserves life.
I start from a number of assumptions:
First: There has always been and will always be a conflict within every democracy between those supporting democracy and those opposed to it. This is a fight that will never be completely won, nor ever completely lost.
Second: The core of democracy is the power of citizens to have a voice in the governing of their country and the power of that voice to achieve change for the benefit of all the citizens.
Third: The greatest weapon wielded by the opponents of democracy is the ability to convince the people that they have no voice and have no power to affect change.
Fourth: Even in the most extreme cases one can imagine, where the opponents of democracy have convinced the people that they are without power, the perception of weakness and futility is never correct.
The concepts of freedom and liberty that are imperfectly represented by our Constitution continue to stand as a light shining through the darkness to people in this country and across the world.
The fact that our current government has led us away from that light does not mean the light has gone out.
The fact that our current government has led us away from that light does not mean that our ability to turn back towards that light has been taken away.
The fact that our current government and both political parties seem either intent on continuing, or incapable from stopping, our downward rush into twilight and darkness, does not mean that democracy has failed us, only that it has been ill used and poorly served by those individuals and entities pretending to be its faithful servants.
One of those posting a comment to your diary voiced their sadness that Paul Wellstone was not here. He was my Senator and indeed he is terribly missed, but covering democracy in its burial shroud would be the very last thing on Paul Wellstone’s mind at a time like this. He would be shouting at us to organize, organize, organize and not give up. He would be exorting us to stand up as engaged citizens fighting for our country and its people and not rest until we are headed back towards the light of a living democracy.
I understand that when we have done everything we can, then any further intervention just prolongs the agony.
But can any of us truly say we have done all that we can?
Have we but reached up and taken a strong hold of the powerful tool standing before us?
Have we talked to our friends and neighbors until they too understand that they can and must pick up that same tool to make this democracy work?
Have we truly understood that a freeloader democracy is no democracy at all and that in order for our children to enjoy the benefits of democracy that we must annually go out into the field and plant more seeds that in their time the next generation may harvest and then plant yet again?
Here where I live, the party caucuses will be held on March 7th. Until I see twice the number appear that appeared in 2004, triple the number, quadruple the number, I will not say we have done everything we can. Until I see the majority of our people start using both parties to further their own relational self-interests by making their party and their elected representatives accountable on a daily, weekly and monthly basis for their action and in-action, I will not even begin to say we have done everything we can.
Until people turn their anger and their frustration and their grief and their words into action, yes once more, twice more and again and again and again, I will not think that we have done everything we can.
Until we show those that have no need for and no interest in democracy that they will only take our democracy away from us when they pry it out of our dead cold hands; until that time we cannot, must not, dare not say that we have done everything we can and that is time for this democracy to have coins placed on its eyes and be given to the boatman for its long journey down into darkness.
With all due respect for your heartfelt anguish at the state of our country, it is not time to grieve, it is time to act.
