Letter: Flag Day a reminder that We the People are the government
Long designated as Flag Day for U.S. citizens to express their patriotism by displaying the flag, June 14 has been appropriated by the Trump administration to stage a grandiose military parade, dwarfing those of authoritarian rulers of the past. Such a display (coinciding not accidentally with Trump’s birthday) is designed to serve as a supreme example of power and control. His opponents have reacted by mounting a series of peaceful protests around the country to call attention to this action of a would-be dictator.
While I am unable to attend today’s protests, I want to add my voice to the voices of the millions of concerned patriots who are appalled at this administration’s totalitarian aspirations.
Our founding fathers, all familiar with the history of European monarchies, understood all too well the challenges of building a democracy and protecting it from future tyrannies. Thus we have a government with power divided among three separate branches, two of which are elected and the third which is appointed by elected officials. State governments and many local administrations are similarly designed. While some of these protections have been lost over time, the basic structure survives.
The result is a messy, overgrown, bureaucratic synthesis, easy to hate for its inefficiency, but which has, to some extent, remained a democracy until recent times, able to self-correct its worst impulses.
That this has even been possible is because Americans have shared a respect for the Constitution and a willingness to subject all governmental actions to its scrutiny. The current administration, unequaled in its quest for unlimited power and wealth, and hampered by its ignorance, has done everything possible to erode that respect, call into question history itself, and set itself up as the decider of what it can and cannot do. It has come to power by stoking hatred, fueling mistrust, sowing fear by threatening reprisals, and eroding that most basic contract all citizens have with the larger society.
The only way we can challenge this is to recognize that We the People are the government, It is our responsibility to uphold our democracy for the future by resisting this naked power grab, which is designed to funnel the productive capacity of the country into the hands of a few plutocrats who are indifferent to what happens to the rest of America, the rest of the world, and our shared environment.
Trump still has only the power we have given him. We can take it back and seek better leadership. We can insist on the recognition of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and, if it comes to it, obey only the laws it enshrines and protects. The government is not our enemy – in a democracy, it is our sacred charge and our responsibility. We meet this responsibility by joining together, questioning authority, teaching the unbridled truth, demanding accountability, and solving the urgent questions of the time by dialogue and cooperation.
If we fail to do this, we and our children will be puppets in a totalitarian state, dehumanized by the forces of greed, while the new Dark Ages descend upon the earth.
Julie Melchior
Ferdinand
