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The Guardrails Of Democracy Are The People
You. You're the guardrail.
One of my amazing Discord members spoke up in our General channel this morning:
“I wish Trump hadn't been elected, I wish I had more clarity on how to ameliorate some of the damage that will now inevitably occur - but as he was and I don't, I'm moving on to the next step, because the forever war never ends.”
I second this sentiment.
Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote about “a Republic, if you can keep it” has been prominent in my head since the election. After all, it’s we, the people, who make up our system of government. Through our votes, through our activism, our donations, or lack thereof, we decide what the future of our society looks like.
Lincoln knew this too. It’s why he finished his Gettysburg Address with this line:
It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
We, the living, the people, we have to carry forward the torch of freedom passed to us by those who came before in order that we can pass it to the next generation.
Preserving freedom in the face of seemingly overwhelming authoritarianism appears daunting at best and outright futile at worst. The despots themselves are harrowing, of course, but what about those so suddenly eager and willing to go along with it?
Sure, there are the sycophants, the ones who lie down and offer fealty at the first sign of danger, but what about the apathy of those who should be leading the resistance? Where are those who we need to be our figureheads, our beacon in the night? The silence of their voices rings loudest when the storms rage.
The truth is we have always been our own beacons. George Washington gets the credit for leading his troops across the Delaware, but what about those troops? They did the hard, gritty work in the middle of the night to ensure success. It was Washington’s plan, his operation, but it was the men who followed him who got it done.
My favorite line from the Declaration of Independence comes later, after the grievances have been listed:
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Tyrants aren’t only dangerous, not just despicable, they are summarily unfit to be leaders. Even when elected, this inherent quality shines though by who they surround themselves with, the actions they take, and of course the words they use when communicating.
It’s also evident among those who most ardently support them. It should come as no surprise that many of the nominees Trump has made are men who have been accused of sexual assault. He sees that as a quality he admires, not as a detriment. Men like Trump revel in women feeling as lesser beings, only worth the sexual gratification they can provide. Trump’s nominee list contains several men who appear to have that same view.
As the people within our Democracy, it’s on us to point it out, to never relent, and to never step aside.
There are times when we, the people, must lead ourselves forward because those with influence or power above us simply don’t have the gumption.
Americans have a long, storied history of grassroots organizations resisting tyranny, sometimes by means that were violent. The Loyal Nine, a precursor to the Sons of Liberty, held burning effigies of a Stamp Act commissioner in 1765, then torched his office building:
A precursor of the Sons of Liberty in Boston was the Loyal Nine, which burned effigies of Stamp Act commissioner Andrew Oliver in Boston on August 14, 1765. When he did not resign, the group escalated to burning down his office building. Even after he resigned, they almost destroyed the whole house of his close associate Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson. It is believed that the Sons of Liberty did this to excite the lower classes and get them actively involved in rebelling against the authorities. Their actions made many of the stamp distributors resign in fear.
While it’s unfortunate that they felt violence was an appropriate method of enacting change, and there’s literally no need for that whatsoever, the Sons of Liberty were made of normal people who didn’t want a tyrant in a far-off land unilaterally making decisions about their daily lives.
They were people, sons and brothers, who banded together to resist and create a movement out of nothing. They succeeded because their will to win was stronger than the wills of those who stood over them.
Also keep in mind: the tyrant they resisted against led the most advanced, best-trained military in the world at that time. The colonies had no formal military to speak of, and even once Washington took over there were shortages of everything from food to ammunition and clothing. He struggled to even pay his troops regularly. They kept on because they believed in the promise of self-governance and that belief was powerful enough to keep them going through all manner of hardship.
As the months and years we face come to fruition, we will each be tasked with a simple duty: to not allow the oncoming push of fascism tire us into giving in. We must never fold beneath those billowing winds no matter how little strength we find ourselves grasping on to.
The guardrails of Democracy persist, in our hearts and souls, and we shall be our own saviors, or our own doom.
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