America's Social Contract
06/12/23 06:44
December 6, 2023 (Vol. 17 No. 50) - For democracy to succeed, the people who live in it must abide by a social contract. They must agree to majority rule while respecting minority rights. They must respect the outcome of elections, court rulings and allow others to express unpopular opinions. In short, they need to listen to one another. They must observe each individual's right to worship - or to not worship - in whatever manner he or she chooses. For democracy to work, it is imperative that we be willing to compromise and seek common ground. That is the social contract. For those who suggest this sounds a lot like socialism, check your Bible or Koran. These values have been gleaned from practically every major religion. (Check out the Ten Commandments.) Actually, America's Social Contract is The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Sadly, America's 18th century gift to humanity, the idea of a democratic-republic based on a foundation of individual rights, is foundering in the 21st century. It is bad enough that a large percentage of our fellow citizens support the election of morally corrupt man who has been judged to have committed sexual assault and is facing 91 charges relating to his attempt to overthrow the government after the last presidential election. As bad as that is, I was repulsed when the Speaker of the U.S. House Of Representatives yesterday said he was censoring videos of the January 6 insurrection, blurring out the faces of the participants so they could avoid prosecution by the Department of Justice. Amazingly, he said that he was doing so in the name of "transparency." That kind of muddled reasoning comes right out of George Orwell's 1984. For the man who is second in the line of succession to the presidency to declare that he must protect lawbreakers from the very government he represents is obscene. It is not just Republicans who are violating the social contract. There are Democrats who become unhinged when anyone suggests that Israel is not an innocent victim in the current Middle East crisis. While it is true that Hamas is guilty of unspeakable aggression and atrocities, it is also indisputable that Israel has a long history of committing human rights violations against the Palestinians. It is not a binary situation: There is blood on the hands of everyone involved, including the United States. Then there are those unwilling to listen to the legitimate concerns of conservatives about the unchecked flow of illegal immigrants across our Southern border. Can't we find common ground to preserve our national sovereignty while providing refuge to the poor and oppressed? It appears that at times like these that we have forgotten to abide by America's Social Contract. It's a lot easier to scream at one another than it is accept the challenge of finding a middle ground in complex issues. American Democracy - and by extension the freedom of billions of people living here and abroad - has never been in greater peril. Instead of being destroyed by enemies abroad, we are rotting from within. We have forgotten the lessons we should have learned in our 8th grade civics classes. Instead, we are choosing to follow the lead of people who act as if they are still in the 8th grade. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.