By Don Backman
“Mrs. Murphy, why does this (the Declaration of Independence) only say men? What about women?”
“Well,” she replied, “the word men meant all mankind in those days. Men and women.” This paraphrases a dimly recalled conversation from first grade in 1966. For some reason it sticks in my mind and has guided me ever since. While history proves that the word Men didn’t in fact, mean everyone in practice, I have remained convinced right or wrong that Mrs. Murphy should have been right. My mother didn’t agree with me, for good reasons I’d only understand later.
The hard work of starting a country formally began with the Declaration of Independence. It was a beginning, not an ending. There was a lot of work ahead. When asked by Elizabeth Willing Powel, “Well, doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” after the Constitutional convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin reportedly replied “A republic, if you can keep it.”
A republic is a form of democracy where voters elect representatives to their government. Hence, it’s a representative democracy. The United States is or was — right now the jury is out – a democracy. For some strange reason, some Americans have taken the line that the US somehow isn’t a democracy. They say it is a republic and use that as an excuse to support attacks on democracy. This is like saying a particular dog is a Border Collie and therefore is not a dog. This was taught in grade school so there is no excuse not to know.
The founders of the Constitution, which is really what formed the United States as we know it, tried to protect democracy. They created checks and balances, and divided government into three equal branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, which is called the separation of powers. Legislative make the laws, The executive branch carries out the laws enacted by congress, and the Judicial branch interprets the laws. The idea is that one part would be unable to take over the other parts, thus protecting Democracy.
They knew it would be hard, that it wasn’t perfect and tried to build a system for improvement. They realized it would take work to keep our democracy and there would be tests. This week is also the anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, when Americans slaughtered Americans over this very issue. Brother actually faced brother across the battlefield. The Civil War was the biggest test we faced as a country. It was the biggest test until today.
What happens when the separation of power fails? What happens when the congress, controlled by one party, refuses to govern and instead gives that power to the Executive Branch? When Congress refuses to check the executive who exceeds the authority given to it in the US Constitution? What happens when the highest court, the Supreme Court, appears to be enabling the overreach of the executive branch, a court where certain members of which are documented to have accept huge “favors” from uber wealthy friends, allowing the executive branch to do things that are contrary to the laws congress passed? What happens when the very institutions that are designed to block this overreach are taken over by people who are loyal only to the president and not to the constitution?
We are finding out what happens. We are finding out that our democracy is on the ropes. We are finding out that individual rights are endangered, because when people, including citizens, are detained and held without due process by unidentified masked government agents, then none of us have secure individual rights. When our federal (and in some cases in states like Texas) government targets people who exercise their first amendment rights, we all lose. When they charge people who exercise their first amendment rights with crazy charges so blatant that they practically get laughed out of court, but those people targeted have just been crushed financially by legal costs, which is the goal, we all lose. People don’t have to be convicted in order to destroy them. However, as seen in Texas, you can be convicted in certain courts for these ludicrous charges. One hopes these cases will likely be overturned on appeals.
This is the way modern dictator takeovers work. Take powers that aren’t theirs, replace the people who can stop them with people who are loyal to them and not the country, use the country’s own funds to corrupt people so you can control them, and weaken and control the judicial branch by corrupting them or intimidating them. At the same time, they crush legal dissent. It is done under the guise of an emergency requiring urgent actions due to a scapegoated group that can’t fight back. This is an authoritarian playbook that is being used around the world.
Benjamin Franklin was a brilliant man who knew full well that it is very difficult to maintain a democracy. The founders of the country, the ones we call patriots and honor on the Fourth of July, believed in liberal values of individual rights, that each one of us has rights that cannot be infringed upon except by due process of law. They believed in a democratic form of government where the people elected their own leaders. They believed that government should be free of undue influence – such as religion and foreign and domestic efforts to subvert the constitution. They were very familiar with religious war because many of the original colonists fled religious persecution in Europe – -persecution which all too often meant imprisonment or death – and wanted no part of it. They tried to create a country run by the rule of law.
This year, on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we find ourselves once again in a struggle to protect freedom and for democracy. There are millions of people throughout the United States standing up for the constitution, the rule of law. Yet, the struggle is far from over.
What do the Declaration of Independence and the Fourth of July mean to me? They mean rule by a Constitutional Government tasked with bettering the lives of all. It means the rule of law, where everyone is equal. It means acknowledging the ever-ongoing struggle in Benjamin Franklin’s words, “It’s a republic, if you can keep it.” Today, it is our turn to be the Patriots of our era and continue this ever-ongoing struggle to keep our democracy.
See you at a parade on the 4th. Bring your American flag. It is our flag and stands for the US Constitution.
