This holiday weekend our country celebrates its two hundred forty seventh birthday. The grand experiment in democracy continues. Yet, the edifice is beginning to show cracks. Demagogues of all political persuasions are attempting to divide us into waring camps. These fractures, particularly those which throw our election process into doubt, threaten our ability to function as a society at the very time we most need some cohesion to face global challenges.
Each of us who served have faced the challenges of working with others of quite different backgrounds than our own and each of us have overcome those challenges. I believe in the Spirit of democracy. I believe that group decisions can be wrong but that we do strive "to form a more perfect union." I believe participation in a functional democracy means each must continue that effort.
There was a time when I quit voting because the system was flawed. I requested an absentee ballot while I was overseas. The administrative structure of the Army found it was too much trouble and I never got my ballot, so in a childish fit, I quit voting. I see now that I was wrong. I was demanding perfection We human beings don't make perfect institutions. No election is ever likely to be perfect. We've seen what happens in other countries when the citizens failed in their duties to participate. Our democracy is imperfect because we are still in the process of forming a more perfect union. With intractable party politics the democratic spirit of compromise threatening our government, let's take a step away from partisanship.
What can we do to face the challenges of divisiveness? I think the first thing is that we need to stop and listen. 95% of the people I've met want the same thing: to have a peaceful and prosperous life for themselves and their own. What always seems to set people against each other is fear. The shrinks say that fear of loss is more motivating for humans than hope of gain. With so many changes hitting the world fear of loss has become a kind of group paranoia. We can't afford it. When I try to talk to friends with very different politics, I hear what those fears are. I can then reassure them that their fears or unfounded or I can accept their viewpoint and begin to try and figure how the issues they express can be addressed.
When I first joined the women's veteran group, I was cautioned about expressing political views. I can understand that. I'm a bit strange already and looking for an argument would be pretty stupid on my part.
Nonetheless, I think we should exercise adult discussion on politics. We've handled differences between us before. Each of us has some sense of service and of duty. I believe it is our duty to talk calmly about our differences. In this way we can continue our service to protect the goal of forming a more perfect union. E Pluribus Unum. One out of many - because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY.🇺🇸
