What is the value of democracy if we never get to it? How
can we spread democracy if we cannot do it? There is a movement within our
country to enforce the values of one group of people upon the whole of us. It
would not matter though if this collection of values were the absolute edict of
God, as the right ironically contends. The stated values of our nation are
freedom, equality, liberty and ultimately choice. These are the precepts of
Republican Democracy and no one, no matter how noble their cause or righteous their
intentions,
has the right to infringe upon them.
Our long proud road towards fair representation balances
delicately, precariously even, upon the hopes and dreams and beliefs of an
unparalleled diversity. Sometimes the outer edges of that diversity can seem
strange, eccentric, frightening even, to what the core majority recognizes as
normal. Occasionally it is even dangerous. At that point it becomes necessary
to limit those liberties the minority would enjoy at the expense of the
majority. Who could argue with that philosophy? Many times however, it is the
habit of one faction to attempt to limit the rights of another on grounds no
stronger than opinion and belief. This is intolerable to our way of life and
exactly the type of tyrannical mindset that the founders attempted to accommodate
for when they included the concept of
minority rights in the Constitution.
We do not have to agree with one another to enjoy our
republic. We do not even have to like each other. But we must absolutely
respect each other’s liberties and willing to defend even the rights we are
most opposed to, so long as they are fair and reasonable, or our own rights
will suffer constant risk from the ever-changing majority. As exhilarating as a
good healthy debate can be, there is a point past which it becomes detrimental
and begins to spoil the freedom we are all fighting for. To that point,
faith-based arguments cannot be used to limit the rights of other citizens.
This is a terrible false-logic of our time and a stumbling block
in the path of our democracy: How does
extending a right, mandate an action? A right allows for action but it does
not require it. To equate permission with choice is to underestimate and
marginalize the “individual.” And to limit choice because it interferes with or
runs counter to one’s own values, reduces to the totalitarian attitude our nation
was established to abolish.
There is no escaping this point.
The representative design of our government coupled with the
expressed value of the minority affords us a mechanism of collaboration of tremendous
potential. We hold in our grasps all the raw material we need to fulfill the
prophecy of peace so regularly preached and we are wasting it. Perhaps that is
why other nations’ cannot take our grandiose self-image seriously.
Where is the reasonable argument followed by the open ear?
Where is the daily exercise of voluntary compromise? They are drowned out by
the shouting of two sides disinterested in the other. We must be interested. It is our civic duty!
Remember that the anthem might begin “this land is your land,” but it soon
continues “this land is your land.”
Sharing is an American value. Tolerance is an American
value. Coalition is an American value.
If there is an enemy to the American system of values, it is
he who would twist our most basic principles to create a monopoly of doctrine
and hoard the freedoms so hard won for themselves. If there is a danger to our
republic, it is the attempt to rewrite the Constitution to serve faith-based
ends and creating legislation to curb the role of the judiciary. The purpose of
the Declaration and the Constitution was to create an environment of personal
liberty, happiness and ownership. What then could be the motive of those who ignore
our shared environment, limit personal freedoms, define parameters for
happiness and place the greatest economic focus on mechanisms for war?
Exactly
whose democracy are we spreading to the rest of the world anyway?
