Fragile Democracy

China can trace its history back to the 21st century BC - more than 2,000 years before the current Gregorian calendar started.

But humans have been around approximately 1.7 million years. The Roman Empire lasted for over 1,000 years, beginning in 27 BC and ending, more or less, in 1453 AD.

For all of those years, people did not have a say in their government. The government was a king, a despot, a ruler "sent by God" or some other something, but until the Magna Carta was signed in the 13th century, the notion that anyone other than a chosen one or the biggest bully had a say in what went on in life was unheard of.

The United States was founded in 1776. The U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787 and ratified in 1788. 

So, this country is about 234 years old, if one counts from the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

Democracy is an experiment, and it has, to date, relied upon the righteousness and morality of the people in charge in order to remain in play.

Our form of government is new. It is based on a rule of law, not the whims of a man.

And we came within five feet of losing it.

The fragility of our government has been brought home to me in the last two months while I watched each moment of the January 6th committee hearings. How close we came to having a king is frightening.

It frightens me more to think that there still Americans who apparently do not want democracy but want instead a king. And not a nice king, but a tyrant who wanted to kill off his own vice president because the vice president chose not to be a lackey at a critical moment in time.

We do not have sufficient structure in place to maintain democracy. I see that now, because (mostly since the 911 attacks) we have become a depraved and cowardly people.

Depraved and cowardly people require bullies to lead them. They don't trust themselves, I guess, to govern. How could they, after all, when they are so scared that they must carry a six-shooter on their side simply to go to the market?

 

Nothing in our history has prepared us for a president who would dismantle the nation. Nor are we prepared to deal with a rogue SCROTUS, a group of contemptuous Bible-thumpers who believe that their Word of God outweighs the law of man.

The law of man is what this country was founded upon, not the word of God.

Nor are we prepared to deal with an entire party of fascists who would bring us all to ruin simply for the sake of, well, to be honest, I don't know what they want. I don't think it is what they will get, even if they win, because the reality will be so terrible as to make them wish they'd had some sense to begin with.

Many people are dismissing the January 6th committee as a witch hunt. I am seeing things I already knew - some tidbits of new information, sure - but the overall theme of a power grab was already there. I saw it in 2016.

I wrote about it in 2016. Anyone who was paying attention could see what was happening. What I couldn't do, and what apparently people in power could not do, was figure out how to counterbalance it.

If I could time travel, I would go back and ensure Democrats held the majority in 2014, so the Mitch McConnell could not be the asshole he is and stack the Supreme Court.

And I certainly would not allow the former guy to be anywhere near the Oval Office.

But I cannot time travel, I can only move forward. 

Now I am focused on seeing democracy survive, because I think we have maybe two years - maybe just a few months - before it crumbles.

The January 6th committee, strangely enough, is showing the way. It was nice to hear a Republican refer to a Democrat as "my friend" and vice versa when yielding in the back and forth that the committee has set up to make its points.

Republicans and Democrats are not two difference species. We are not - or should not be - enemies.

We need to find common ground before it's too late, and if that means holding hands with strange bedfellows, so be it.

Important things require compromise. If we can't do that, we are lost.