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America seems to have always struggled to be a democracy but has strived to follow democratic principles based on the Constitution. What has become starkly apparent is how much corporate influence there is over elected officials and the decisions they make regarding policy and programs for the American people. Does this influence now define the American government which then cannot be called Democracy. I believe in majority rule, with free and fair elections, equal representation, free expression without harm to others and equal economic opportunity. To me this defines Democracy that is worth fighting for!!

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Oct 23, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

I am white, my neighbor is black. We are both worried. I have no children but he has four. I asked him how he thinks this world is turning out for them. The look on his face was sad. I told him that he and everyone has to vote in the midterms. He agreed. I told him I already voted for the Special Election we are having next month. I asked him if he had voted yet. Not yet he replied. Don't wait I told him. We can't wait anymore on any election. He is a laid back kind of person and I am not. I told him that democracy needs involvement on every level especially voting. This is not the time for last minute decisions. Stay aware. He asked how do we get people who don't believe in democracy act differently? I, for once, do not have the answer. Someone smarter than me better have the answer.

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Oct 23, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

I can imagine my country becoming a dictatorship. I was in junior high when JFK was president. He inspired me. A friend's brother was one of the first casualties in Vietnam. My brother had been 17 walking guard duty on the 38th parallel in Korea. I went to college and supported protests against the war, put up signs for Open Housing, still support women's bodies and rights.

I am old, but I will not stop believing we can be better. I will use all my abilities to prevent this war on my country.

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Oct 23, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Heather Cox Richardson nails it when she goes back to our Declaration of Independence. After delineating various unalienable rights, rights we deem as self-evident / in no need to be otherwise proven, they explain how governments are tolerated.

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,..."

We give our CONSENT to be governed justly. We have a right to a say in how we are governed. We can have a say in self determination. That right is what it is to be human.

That's what our Democracy means to me - the right to be human and have a say in my fate.

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Oct 23, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

I know two things democracy isn’t. Secured and guaranteed. As sure as I know we are all riled up and determined not to lose it this time, IF we are able to save it from the conspiracy nut jobs who do not believe in equality and critical research, I am sure in enough years, complacency will again become the norm and the deep seated hatred that resides in the hearts of the ill-willed, will again rear it’s truly ugly head to pull us toward autocracy. Because they want what the want and compromise be damned.

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Oct 23, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

https://youtu.be/HqYnevHibaI

This tune definitely comes to mind. It’s the essence of democracy. It has its limits & shortcomings, but in the grand scheme this is what matters— liberty— to be able to think, believe, love, aspire, and be what you want to be. No other political system allows the individual to be that, an individual & pursue their desires & inspirations.

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No one said it would be easy.

No one said it would be perfect.

What the founders said was in the preamble their intentions in declaring independence from the monarchy.

"A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy."

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Form. Establish. Insure. Provide. Promote. Secure. Ordain and Establish.

We have to understand the preamble in order to understand the body of the document.

"We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

He said this in speaking about our race into space against the Russians. We very much needed to show that our democracy could compete with any other form of government. At that time we could count on the Republican party to at least give lip service to the ideals of democracy, although they have never been wholeheartedly concerned with the general welfare of society. They have always been pro-capitalist, pro-Christian, and pro-party, at the expense of democracy.

"While the Republican Party has long engaged in efforts at voter suppression, the triumph of Trumpism has seen the party embrace the big lie of widespread election fraud. They have been using this lie to push laws aimed at restricting voting and this indicates an explicit rejection of American democracy in favor of securing power through non-democratic means. One could argue that this is consistent with traditional values; at least the tradition of Jim Crow and other anti-democratic efforts over the course of United States history."

<<aphilosopher.drmcl.com/2021/05/14/what-is-the-republican-partys-political-philosophy/>>

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."

Abraham Lincoln

I believe democracy is the only best form of government available to society. But, as long as we deny full participation by every member of society, we are not there yet. Overcoming our long-practiced privilege for white, straight, wealthy males will take a lot of work, but it is within our doing and within the call of the declaration of independence.

If Democrats, Republicans, Progressives, LGBTQ+ do not prevail in our two upcoming critical elections, it is near certainty that democracy in America will be dead for the foreseeable future. We will have a dictatorship of some sort, or a theocracy, or maybe some combination of the two. If that scenario plays out, one thing we will not be is free. Pigmentation, sexual identity, political party, or religion will not ensure our once treasured rights.

We already have Christian preachers calling for the execution of Democrats, non-Christian, gay, queer, black, brown, or anyone resisting Trump and the Trumplicans. It seems that they are in competition with ISIS as to who can be the most extreme in their aim for religious domination of the world.

From the beginning the founders, James Madison specifically, called on future generations to use the constitution to keep our laws in line with the needs of society. That's what all those action verbs are meant for. Down through the years we have seen our legislators give more and more authority to capitalists and Christians, allowing them to prescribe legislation detrimental to everyone else. No other religions need to apply for inclusion.

Democracy is like a high-bred woman; It requires a lot of maintenance and constant attention. If you wish to hold on to her, you will have to see to all her needs. If her wardrobe becomes threadbare, if her table is set with subsistence vittles, if her emotional needs are ignored, then she may take flight and leave you wondering what else you could have done.

Mr. Beschloss, I'm sorry about the long-winded, maybe incoherant response, but you did ask, and I'm 80+ years old and I have good reason to wonder what is in store for my children and grandchildren. This is the most I have ever been about the direction our republic is headed in.

Our politics and our religion have been turned into weapons against us. Very formidable weapons.

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Oct 24, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Of everything which you can consider, "DEMOCRACY" has had the utmost impact on my life. I often reflect on my great fortune to have been born and lived during that teeniest slice of human history when people governed themselves. Of all the billions and billions of people who have lived and passed on and never, never knew freedom, or success, or even comfort, I lucked out and lived in the United States of America during this brief time. I stand in reverence of the people who secured that for me as well as those who sustained it. Now, when I am navigating the comments and tweets of so many who contrive to tear it all down (and seeing their dangerous proximity to success), I find myself sitting there with involuntary tears suddenly streaming down my face. I cannot help it, it just happens. But the tears are not for me; I have lived the greater part of my life. The tears are for my grandkids who may some day wonder why I could not save that for them. I am NOT silent, I use my voice. I speak out. I vote. I support. But, sometimes it just feels so defeating. (Sorry I am so emotional here - old coot!)

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I think to me the #1 among so many is that you, your words in this piece and others are allowed and should never be taken for granted. Speaking truth to power or being able to especially when morally, ethically or legally called to do so as we are again now in our history and in this fight to save our countries democracy, liberty and freedoms before being taken over by idiologs who want nothing more than to see democracy fail. That history as you write and as we are witnessing some trying to erase for other false narratives is also worthy of its defense. A country and democracy is nothing If it cannot truthfully deal with its history which includes all the good, the bad and the often very ugly. We need to heed the lessons of Germany and others with determination and resolve to never let those nefarious malicious malfesent inclinations ever take hold or take hold again within our or any other country. Truth to a manelivent power always.

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I wrote something, I really did. But while writing, my husband called from the tarmac at SETAC because some of our fellow Americans decided to cause a ruckus about masks and it not being “Biden’s world”. My faith is weak just right this second…………

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I know one thing, calling a event an insurrection when it was mostly planned and implemented by the FBI is not democracy.

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