By Jerry Diercks / Herald Forum
When I was 10 years old, we celebrated the Bicentennial. My school seized the moment and taught us about the country’s founding principles.
I was so proud to be a citizen of a country governed by the people, for the people. We learned that our government could evolve to be guided as Abraham Lincoln said, “by the better angels of our nature.”
Now the very founding principles of our democracy are being destroyed. Three co-equal branches of government gone. Freedom of the press, going or gone. We are now led by an authoritarian. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said it better than I can in his State of the State address:
“The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.
“It took the Nazis — once they gained power in Germany —one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. …
“Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity … and do not let the ‘tragic spirit of despair’ overcome us when our country needs us the most.”
Our country is not perfect. We often fail to bring justice to all. As they say, democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.
Nevertheless, our country’s “better angels” led us to ban slavery, give women the right to vote, allow united workers to check corporate greed, fight off the Nazis in World War II, give people of color more of their civil and voting rights to name a few of our democracy’s accomplishments.
Jerry Diercks lives in Freeland on Whidbey Island.
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