These words might be jarring, but that is the state of the disunion: a steady dissolution of the United States of America that is leading to its end in its present form – its democratic form. Some might think this is an alarmist assessment. I would suggest to those skeptics that they are not paying attention and that they make unwarranted assumptions about the resilience of the country’s democracy, its institutions and its norms.
Until relatively recently, the United States of America’s national identity had been centered around one concept – democracy. With the rise of the evil one (aka the former guy), half the country, obviously, the Republicans have abandoned democracy in its stated form in our founding documents. This is well-documented, and links are provided below for edification. The purpose of this essay is to assert the unalienable rights of the other half of the country, the Democrats.
The opening of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted on July 4, 1776 and whose original draft was written by Thomas Jefferson, is as follows:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
The Declaration of Independence is the nation’s covenant, and the Republicans are breaking it. For this reason alone, the Democrats are entirely justified in asserting the following: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”
In other words, the Declaration of Independence gives Democrats the right to invoke the dissolution of the union if the form of government forced upon them violates these self-evident truths: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
An authoritarian form of government is clearly in violation of these self-evident truths and is the antithesis of democracy, yet this is the form of government that the Republicans are pursuing and effectively imposing or trying to impose upon the other half of the country, the Democrats. What shall the remedy be? The Declaration of Independence continues as follows:
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
It is the right, in fact, it is the duty of Democrats to throw off such a government for which a “long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism.” In keeping with the spirit of our preeminent founding document, a decent respect for prevailing powers compels an explanation of such abuses and usurpations.
Premier among said abuses and usurpations is a violation directly related to the legacy of slavery and to the greatest truth held within the document: “all men are created equal.” A document restrained in its references to divinity made an exception in this regard and for good reason. Our equality in our creation is asserted by God himself. No matter which god one worships, the assertion that all human beings are created equal does not invoke an earthly order. Instead, it is divinely ordained and thus irrevocable.
The Democrats, the most diverse of the country’s citizens, are not being treated according to this clearly stated recognition of our God-given equality. Instead, we are treated as second-class citizens. For those who find this language hyperbolic, I present as evidence the structure of the government itself. It, particularly the Electoral College and the Senate, is designed to perpetuate minority rule. Let us not delude ourselves into thinking that this entirely undemocratic structure was for some noble reason. It was not. It was to placate former slaveholding colonies, whose participation in the revolution against the British was necessary, and it came at the expense of the integrity of the union as a whole.
It is without question that the stated ideal in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” was compromised in the Constitution, to which there have been numerous amendments, in part, to correct this foundational wrong. As is well-documented, the corruption of this ideal among others was mainly to appease slaveholding colonies who held a depraved understanding of humanity. It was not a view of mankind based on facts or science but on a self-delusion of racial superiority and on all manner of barbarity in the pursuit of money and power. It is now better understood as our original sin. Indeed, reminiscent of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, this original sin still stains every aspect of our society.
The United States of America’s Electorate
How shall we understand the current polarized electorate? It is more accurately understood as the derivation of a bifurcation along more or less the same fault lines that marred the inception of the nation. I also argue that it is best understood in terms similar to the Civil War era leader of a Republican Party that no longer exists, Abraham Lincoln’s realization in a moment of divine inspiration as a battle of good and evil. If this characterization sounds too antiquated or religious to modern ears, I suggest that you tune your ears to the truth because the truth will set you free.
The hard truth for white Americans is that if they are more interested in preserving and protecting their whiteness and their positions of privilege than in preserving and protecting our democracy, then they are more aligned with white supremacists and violence, which is evil, than with democracy and peace, which is good. No matter what other policies are being debated, often ad nauseum, this is the only choice on the ballot that actually matters: democracy or autocracy.
The moral clarity of right and wrong, good and evil that Lincoln found was neither easily achieved nor easily pursued. He did so nonetheless; he prevailed, and he ended the institution of slavery. Following God’s call often comes at a personal price. This was the case for Lincoln and for many other white abolitionists, such as Elijah Lovejoy and John Brown. If white Americans are unwilling to sacrifice, not their lives but simply their (often ill-begotten) comfort and wealth, then please do not present yourselves to an enlightened, diverse society as anything but the modern manifestation of antebellum white oppressors.
Republican “leadership” often in the appeasement of their rabid and radicalized base but also in self-serving pursuits of the most vulgar variety, such as personal enrichment, and at the expense of our democracy would do well to remember certain truths about the other half. The Democrats, who they are alienating at best to outright vilifying, are the country’s brains and its purse. This statement is verifiable. Republicans would also do well to remember that, despite decades of decadence and indiscipline, Americans, particularly Democrats, are collectively some of the toughest people in the world.
America is a nation of immigrants. Recent immigrants, in particular, have often risked everything, including their lives, to come to this country. Descendants of former slaves and indigenous people know well past and present cruelties. Drawing upon their collective memories and experiences, they can call on a trial-tested fortitude to defend against new oppressors. Even those Democrats who have been softened by years of inherited wealth will likely be able to rekindle the noble spirit of their ancestors to fight on behalf of the nation’s eternal ideals and against the tyranny of despotism.
Unlike many other countries, often ancient civilizations that are both enriched and encumbered by the past, the United States of America is a relatively new nation. It is also an idealistic one that continues to believe in itself and, in spite of the flawed execution of its ideals as contained in the Constitution, is accustomed to a certain respect for the inherent dignities of its people. A people like these should not to be underestimated and should not be tested.
The imposition of the evil one, a person who is entirely unfit for any political office or position of authority, on the Democrats will lead to an irreparable fissure. Democrats will not accept it, and the nation will be torn asunder into two parts: democratic and autocratic. The warning is as follows: the Republican Party allows or enables the evil one to become its presidential candidate at the country’s and the democracy’s peril.
The pro-democracy half of the country, the Democrats will fight to protect the rights and the freedoms that are our birthright and for the full recognition of these rights and freedoms and of our humanity as stated in the Declaration of Independence: “all men are created equal.” As our Founding Fathers did, we will submit our facts to a candid world, and we will throw off the despots that aim to subvert our will and oppress us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/opinion/us-democracy-constitution.html
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2021/12/war-on-democracy-media/