ANN DAVIDOW FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

While some among us are busy congratulating themselves on our democracy, others , like Hal Crowther in the September 1st issue of “The Progressive Populist” refer to our form of government more accurately as “democracy on trial.”

After all we may have managed to change administrations without taking to the streets in bloody confrontations, at least not recently. But at the same time we have yet to acknowledge that we live in a violence-tolerating society that allows an unconscionable level of ignorant, racist behavior in the name of freedom - - as if we never have to question whose freedom we’ve been celebrating. Lately the term ‘exceptionalism’ has become a popular expression of our national ethos although it is essentially meaningless rhetoric politicians use to inflate their dialogue and self-importance

How have we come to claim that the right to bear arms is a basic ‘freedom’ that must not be curtailed in any way? What perverse definition has come to bear in our society making it seem that a privilege is a right? And how is someone like George Zimmerman, for example, cast in the role of protector of hearth and home when he is an example of how misguided our gun laws are - - a small man whose stature is defined by a firearm, just as every thug and miscreant is so defined.

Unfortunately that is very much the way our society has been deriving its ethical structures; there are no overriding political and cultural devices in play to mitigate unhealthy thuggish behavior on the part of politicians. As Crowther says in his article “Nationally, the Republicans have devolved into a coalition of the ignorant, the prejudiced and the heartless, that cynical breed of capitalists who venerate Ayn Ramd” - - just when it seemed we had turned a corner. As for heroes, Jesse Helms remains one of the party’s most popular conservative voices -- a fact underlined by Texas Senator Cruz in recent remarks. And this man is being considered in some quarters to be a possible presidential candidate.

Ii isn’t anything new of course but lest it seem that only poorly educated, countrified folks harbor narrow views and deeply ingrained prejudice I remember attending an upscale wedding in Atlanta many years ago when the names of missing civil rights workers, Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman were brought up by the bride’s aunt. She laughingly suggested that their bodies would never be found because there were so many streams and wooded areas in the vicinity. I was never able to follow up after the bodies were found to see if she was still laughing.

But surely there must be a way to awaken the better angels of reasonable people. The three civil rights workers of the sixties were only trying to ensure that voting rights were observed as originally intended. Today voting rights are being trampled by the force of intemperate laws, proof that our democracy is a long way from fulfilling its promise.

(Photo: KCIvey)