Our action can stop the decline of American democracy

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 3, 2023

I’ve always thought great societies will always decline from within. Looking at the state of play in today’s United States I can see it’s beginning to accelerate.

Here are the signs that come to mind: Banning books; restricting access to educational opportunity; dictating curriculum that reveals new ideas and history yet untold; sowing fear into the public perception of our necessary democratic institutions; failing to hold accountable bad behavior of the wealthy and powerful; allowing those in authority to spread proven misinformation without penalty; promoting the suggestion that our elections are somehow rigged; enacting restrictive voting laws; defining difference as an other to be feared; shading good news with the possibility that it may be not so good; 0ver dramatizing our daily lives; accusing others of poor conduct while offering no proof; vilifying others without supporting fact.

This list is not at all exhaustive. It does in my mind represent a continuing decline in our society. It is often said that evil can only succeed when the good stand at the sidelines and fail to act. A great example of this is receiving a ballot by mail and failing to take a few minutes to vote and return it by mail. This practice can guarantee a minority rule.

Finally, we the electorate still have a great voting system and must clean our house by voting without fear and armed with a grip on fact and reality.

Mel Eaton

Snohomish