Tag: Democracy

Real American Democracy in Action

dennysamerica2 Comments

Whatever you may think or make of the political jolts roiling America since the new presidential administration took power in 2017, you must concede that it has, at the very least, unleashed a furious storm of ACTION! 

Those actions involve not only the new administration’s deluge of executive actions and orders. but also, even more importantly, it also involves an incredible and reassuring increase in the examples of our democracy in action.

I wanted to cite one extraordinary example of real American democracy in action because it really did reassure and confirm to me that we are no nation of sheep to be led blind and numb to a bleak and frightening future. As I declared in my intentions for this blog and website, and in some of my first few posts, the American people have demonstrated over and over throughout out entire history as a nation that we do not shrink from confrontation or meekly allow any one person or party or organization to steal what has been earned at such a devastating cost. It is the same persistence, determination and courage that has motivated our incredible men and women of the military, now and at all times in the past, to physically defend our democracy from destruction by outside forces.

The example I cite involves the order released on January 25, 2017 by the President that is named: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements. If you have never actually read or even looked at not just this particular executive order, but almost any officially released executive order, you may be astonished by doing so. This is not just some 140-character 6:00 a.m. Twitter post. It is a highly detailed, specific and wide-ranging declaration of the purpose, definition, and directives compelling multiple civil servants of the administration to take specific actions and to do so immediately. I urge you to take some time and review it, if for no other reason than to make certain you understand it and therefore become able to factually support or reject it.

Of course, in our currently supercharged political atmosphere, doing so may not have been undertaken by large percentages of either critics or supporters. Also, quite frankly, the manner in which it was created and reviewed before publishing failed to anticipate how much confusion and consternation it would cause. Even more damaging has been the inconsistent implementation of the executive order, leading to judicial involvement to settle disputes and halt further implementations until a more detailed assessment can be made to assure legality and fairness.

Whether or not you agree with this particular executive order, that element of government in the United States is a legitimate tool and can be legally utilized. There is no guarantee that it won’t be just as legally challenged, nor upheld if it is challenged. Many such orders have been successfully challenged and removed, as recently as in the previous administration and also in all those that preceded it . So you could say that the executive orders undertaken by any president are part of the American democracy.

The re-assurance I mentioned earlier came from an article found in the print edition of the New York Times on January 31, 2017 by Charlie Savage detailing the efforts made by a network of former and current students of the Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut to actively volunteer and participate in their OWN real life example of  American Democracy in Action. You can read the article via the link, but it essentially describes how the average, everyday American, who is either happily supportive of a law or a cause, or is vehemently opposed to a law or a cause, can take helpful, positive actions to assist their fellow citizens, or in this case immigrants and others aspiring to work towards citizenship, to have their rights upheld and their voices heard.

These lawyers and law students began their team approach to helping those affected by this executive order by gathering information, filing law suits, sharing information and files with others across the country who also banded together to make sure that they had at least had some impact on mitigating the confusion and unnecessary agony of people who were legally allowed to come into the United States, but were subsequently detained and denied access and, in some cases, illegally deported. All of this totally avoidable confusion and chaos drove many to flock to the major airports across the country and participate in another element of American democracy in action: the peaceful protest of an action taken by the government. Many of the lawyers involved in this organized effort to stop what was happening also went to the airports, seeking out those in need of legal assistance, and offering their help. They succeeded in helping some and focusing critical attention on how the situation had gone so wrong, and helped compel judicial action to suspend the order and let cooler heads prevail.

So my re-assurance and confirmation of where we are in America today was bolstered in a very positive way.  I do not attribute this feeling to agreeing or disagreeing with a particular executive action or law. I am re-assured by the fact that everyday citizens took it upon themselves to organize and take peaceful, legal actions to help counteract what THEY saw as a wrong to be righted. It may not ultimately eliminate what they oppose, but their efforts can inspire all of us to stand up and take action, not by throwing rocks and smashing windows and destruction of property, but rather by joining together and work within our laws to affect the outcomes we need to maintain our precious democracy.

 

 

Is Our Democracy Really Dysfunctional?

dennysamerica2 Comments

There are times in each our lives when we must step back and honestly reassess who and what we truly are. Often, the impetus for such assessments are involuntary. It may be an unexpected life event like a job layoff, a near-death experience, or the death of a friend or loved one. Something that jolts us out of our complacency and compels us to rethink every aspect of our lives. Such events are unavoidable and at least, in some circumstances, a positive development. What truly matters, and is critical to the potential benefit from the event, is the 100% honest and factual based effort to make that assessment. Why did this happen? What are the real reasons behind it and how should I proceed going forward?

I think that the United States of America, its’ government and citizens, are experiencing just such a life-changing jolt now!  This has not been caused by the election or defeat of any particular person in a specific way or level. The Presidential election in 2016 was going to happen regardless of who was actually competing for it. The outcome of that election however, was a result of a major, nationwide reassessment of who and what we truly are, and perhaps more accurately, of who and what we hope to be. I’d like to examine that a bit further.

In the New York Times print newspaper from 01/04/17, there was an opinion piece written by Eduardo Porter under his Economic Scene segment that examines whether or not the American democracy is broken. You can read this article for yourself via the link, however my interpretation of the essay is that Mr. Porter seems to feel that the winning candidate in the 2016 Presidential election is basically an authoritarian strongman with the intention of serving the elite versus the ordinary working class Americans. He seems to believe that the millions of people who voted for him  chose to ignore his resemblance to dictatorial strongmen, current and past, who started out as populist but ended up keeping their citizens down and made to buckle under their rule. Admittedly, there are millions who may agree with that, or at least be concerned that the door to that path has become slightly ajar. The article further defines and details the perceived reasons behind the dysfunction of our democracy in the United States. It’s that reassessment idea I spoke of earlier.

My main reason for citing this article is that, although Mr. Porter references many of the symptoms of democratic dysfunction in the US, he attributes the single greatest source of that dysfunction to the actual design and structure of our political institutions! The fundamental pillars of our republic! These institutions are described and established in the Constitution of the United States. They cannot be ignored, nor can they simply be overhauled or swept away because of the existence of inequality, a declining social safety net, stagnant incomes or any other difficult problem facing the United States in 2017. The Constitution of the United States has been in force since 1789, after a huge and difficult national debate, an effort on a scale not seen since that era. I urge you to undertake the reading of the Federalist Papers  which will astound you and amaze you as you learn about the persistence and determination of three of the Founding Fathers to explain and masterfully defend the principles and justification for our incredible nation contained in the new Constitution. The clear and convincing ideas contained in those Papers served to convince a very skeptical and wary populace to ratify and accept the simplified and codified tenets of government contained in the extraordinary document called the Constitution of the United States. It should also be read and re-read by all Americans, particularly those who blame the political institutions conceived in the late 18th century that gave us our precious nation and continue to secure its’ existence, for our current ‘dysfunction’. In fact, it is those exact institutions that will PROTECT us from the authoritarian strongman who would subvert our citizens and undermine our nation.