| Shock, outrage, and sadness overwhelmed me on Jan. 6, 2021, as I watched a mob of thugs, incited by the President of the United States, storm our U.S. Capitol and disrupt Congress’s constitutional duty to count and certify America’s election results.
In the early hours of the following day, Congress continued its work and declared Joe Biden our next president—and demonstrated to the world a continuing commitment to Constitutional rule in the face of insurrection. For me, this whole episode left me shaken and recommitted to fulfilling my role as a citizen. The effect of this incident on those whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country was driven home when I heard the comments of a man from Texas, a Republican, who told a reporter, “My brother didn’t give his life in Afghanistan for this.”
Veterans have all played a sacred role in protecting and preserving our democracy—whether in combat or not—signaling their willingness to give their lives if necessary for our country, our Constitution, and our system of government. It is our sacred duty as citizens to preserve and protect our country and its Constitution in other ways so that the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters in the military are not disrespected and not in vain.
As citizens, we all have a duty to vote, to educate ourselves in how our system works and what our leaders are doing in our name, to support the democracy established under our Constitution, to work to change what is detrimental to our country’s values, and to teach our children to respect our system of government.
I remember the awe I felt when, at 21, I finally stepped into the voting booth and cast my ballot for the first time. And I remember two decades later when I was tempted to skip voting in a local election because of a hectic schedule that day. But I had never missed an election and I decided I wouldn’t miss this one either. The next morning, I learned my candidate for city council had won by one vote.
It is not a perfect system because, for one thing, it is run by imperfect humans. But democracy has provided us with many tools to initiate change, among them elections, court cases, editorials, letters to the editor and members of Congress, speeches, lobbying, and peaceful protest. Even following all these avenues, we don’t always get our way, of course. Sometimes it takes decades—or more—to change laws and policies that are outdated or discriminatory. My sister and I took my three-year-old niece—dressed in a cape that read “ERA for ME”—to the Maine State Legislature to lobby for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. My niece turned 50 last March and Maine has not yet passed the ERA.
No, the system isn’t perfect. But as Winston Churchill noted, “Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” —Susan Gold, January 2021 |
