Central Questions—Why Should We Support Democracy?

This is part of an ongoing Texas Liberal series called Central Questions.   

We take support of democracy as a given in the United States. Yet how often do we ask ourselves why we really believe in democracy?

Here are some possible reasons we might support and believe in democracy—

1. To use the overworked Winston Churchill thought on the matter, democracy is the worst system until we consider all the others.

2. Democracy can be supported based on a belief that citizens must have a say in how they are governed. This right could be seen as even more important than specific policies a democracy produces. People must be free.

3. Democracy could be supported as an act of nihilism or even vindictiveness once a personal determination has been made that people in charge of their fates will ruin their lives and ruin society. 

4. A reason to support democracy is that it could be seen as the best way to give the people the illusion of control, while in fact society is run by a relative few. Democracy could be seen as form of social control.

5. Democracy could be seen as the best way to give lucky, well-connected, talented or highly-motivated people a meaningful life—in number beyond the few who may actually be running society as referenced above— even if the majority of citizens never really can get ahead.

6. Democracy could be seen as inevitable at this point given the fall of the Soviet block, the decentralization of life with the internet and mobile technology and the erosion, in some respects, of borders. Since it is inevitable, you might as well get on board and make the best of it.      

Roger Williams—Colonial Champion Of Tolerance & Equality

 

The great religious dissenter Roger Williams is the founder of Rhode Island. He was exiled from Massachusetts because he differed with the rulers of Massachusetts Bay Colony about the best way to communicate with God.

 

The view that Williams held, that God could reached by any person, led naturally to his embracing ideas of the equality of all persons and religious liberty long before their time. (If that time has arrived even today.)

 

Williams lived between 1603 and 1683. He was a Christian who followed no specific creed. He organized Rhode Island on the basis of religious liberty and the equal rights of its citizens.

 

Rhode Island was established at Providence in 1636. In a fashion similar to my earlier post about John Cotton, here are observations about Williams done with the assistance of Vernon L. Parrington’s The Colonial Mind 1620–1800. This book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1928. 

 

Parrington writes— As a transcendental mystic he was a forerunner of Emerson….discovering an indwelling God in a world of material things, as a speculative seeker…. ( he discovered) the hope of a more liberal society in the practice of an open mind… 

 

Seeing a more open society by having an open mind—This offers a clue to what an individual can do without the aid of institutions or even without the support of others. You can imagine a better world and then help make it a reality.

 

Roger Williams was the most provocative thinker thrown upon the Massachusetts shores…the one original thinker amongst a number of capable social architects…he was the “first rebel against the divine church-order established in the wilderness”…but he was very much more than that; he was a rebel against all the stupidities that interposed a barrier betwixt men and their dreams.

 

The “social architects” may have had in mind a process by which the new colony would be organized and structured, but Williams had a real vision of how things should be. From that vision came clear understanding of what people really wanted in their lives.

 

He lived in the realm of ideas, of inquiry and of discussion; and his actions were creatively determined by principles the bases of which he examined with critical insight…..he was the incarnation of Protestant individualism, seeking new social ties to take the place of those that were loosening.

 

He was a product of ideas and discussion, and he turned those ideas and discussion into a working colony that still exists over 350 years later in the form of the State of Rhode Island. Relevant to the changes we are facing today with globalization, Williams had the ability to imagine the relationships and the type of society would replace the failing old order.

 

It was the spirit of love that served as a teacher to him; love that exalted the meanest to equality with the highest in the divine republic of Jesus….He regarded his fellow men literally as the children of God….and from this primary conception he deduced his political philosophy.

 

It’s the bottom line of any humane and just organization of a society—Everybody is an equal.

 

Much of his life was devoted to the problem of discovering a new basis for social reorganization, and his intellectual progress was marked by an abundant wreckage of obsolete theory and hoary wreckage that strewed his path.

 

It takes a lot of mental effort to get past the prevailing views of the day. I’m sure that along the way Williams had to discard many things he once held as true.

 

In accord with a long line of liberal thinkers…he accepted the major deductions of the compact theory of the state: that government is a man-made institution, that it rests on consent, and that it is founded upon the assumed equality of the subjects…..he had only to translate those abstractions into concrete terms and apply them realistically to create a new and vital theory….he located sovereignty in the total body of citizens.

 

Again—The ability to take an idea and make it something solid. This is the test of a visionary leader.  Realistic application of these ideas is, of course, also part of the plan.

 

...Roger Williams was a confirmed individualist…

 

And from that basis of individualism, Williams concerned himself with the lives of others. That is one of the most difficult things to explain—That to care for others you must often start from a position that might at first appear isolated or abstract.

 

It’s difficult for some not to allow a notion of themselves as individualists to take over their personality at the expense of the connections that can result from free thought and inquiry.

 

The reluctant judgment of Cotton Mather that Roger Williams “had the root of the matter in him” 

 

What more can you say about somebody than that they understood the core of the matter. It’s one of the highest compliments you can pay anybody. 

(Previous posts on John Cotton and Anne Hutchinson have generated a great deal of traffic to the blog. It’s great to know others share my interest in these subjects. I’d love to have your comments. Click here please for all my posts to date on the subject of Colonial America.)  

 

 

Central Question—Can A Majority Be Oppressed?

This is part of an occasional Texas Liberal Series called Central Questions.

The very good blog The People’s Republic of Seabrook recently ran a post with the following title—“How Can A Majority Reasonably Claim To Be Oppressed?”

The post had to do with complaints by some American Christians that they are allegedly persecuted.

I’m not as interested in the specifics of that one TPRS post, which I agreed with well- enough, as I am in the title of the post.

There are in fact many ways a majority can be oppressed.

Here are some— 

1. A majority in can be oppressed if they live in a colony of another nation.

2. A large segment of a national majority group, such as Hindus designated as lower caste in India, may be oppressed by more privileged groups.

3. The majority of people who are not wealthy may be oppressed by the minority that is wealthy.

4. In cases where women comprise a majority of the population, they may not have the same rights as do men.  

5. In Apartheid South Africa, the majority was clearly oppressed. 

6. A certain ethnic, religious or racial group may comprise the majority of people in specific city, state, province or region but be oppressed by a national majority.

7. A group of people, such as Christians in China, may be part of the world’s largest religious grouping, even if Christians do not comprise a majority of all the world’s people, and be oppressed within the borders of a specific nation.

So while I don’t believe American Christians are oppressed, it is very possible for a majority to be oppressed.    

Is Political Representation A Two-Way Street? Does, For Example, Apathetic Houston Merit Municipal Representation?

 

This is part of an occasional Texas Liberal series called “Central Questions.”  

Is political representation a “two-way street?” Can a group of voters, or a group of citizens who do not vote, perform their civic duties so poorly that they no longer merit representation?

Here in Houston, for one example, our Mayor and City Council members are limited to three two-year terms. A condition of employment for these officials is acceptance of the fact that your employers, the citizens of Houston, do not trust you beyond a certain point.

Why would someone want that job?

Further, voter turnout in Houston for municipal elections is terrible. Runoffs for council seats have been know to attract between 5% and 10% of voters. Even on General Municipal Election Day, most citizens do not vote.

If people don’t care who represents them, why bother to run?

If the question seems abstract, and there’s nothing wrong with abstract, it might be said that by limiting Council terms and not voting, citizens do, in fact, cede municipal representation to large money donors and interest groups who, for whatever reasons, are involved in the process.

In this way, maybe the “abstract” question does lead to a solid, and distressing, answer.

Above is a “big picture” way to look at Houston.

Central Question: How To Reconcile Commitment To Democracy With Often Distressing Nature Of Public?

This is the first installment of an occasional Texas Liberal series called “Central Questions.” 

Today’s question is—–How does one reconcile a commitment to democracy with the often distressing beliefs and actions of the general public?

Possible Answers—

1. Try to see people’s beliefs and actions from their perspective. This takes work and requires sympathy for people who may make little effort to see your side of the debate. Still, it’s worth the trouble.

2. Realize that you are flawed as well. 

3. Consider the view that Democracy in and of itself has merit regardless of the outcome of the democratic process. At core, people must have a say in how they are governed.

4. Consider that in time your views on important issues may gain the ascendancy. For better or worse, few issues are ever fully resolved once and for all. 

5. Consider that this question has no firm answer and that you must take issues and individuals on a case-by-case basis as the situation merits and your personal energy permits.

6. Take actions to move society in the direction you feel is best.    

I’d be happy to hear from the blog reading public any other views on this question.

What Type Of Exile Should We Choose?

What type of exile should we choose? What types of exile are chosen for us? 

In Colonial America, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson chose banishment from Massachusetts rather than renounce their views on how best to communicate with God. They went to the wilderness of Rhode Island.

When I was young, I hung out often at a punk rock club called The Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky. This was a kind of “soft exile.” I wanted to be with people more like myself if just for a few hours. 

In the 19^th Century, the black American actor Ira Aldridge went to Europe because he could not find roles in the United States.

In Ancient Rome, exile from Rome was a punishment one could receive.

Many of us withdraw to an extent just to get through the day.

Can exile serve as a creative force beyond simply serving as a device for sanity?

I’d say yes.

Artists often have what are termed as “retreats.” 

Martin Luther King wrote his Letter From A Birmingham Jail while in a type of forced exile.

I don’t think I could fully trust anyone who, for whatever reasons, does not seek some level of exile from this world.

Ideally, exile serves ultimately as a path to finding a way to be more strongly engaged with the world.  

Turning 40—Good Way To Meet A Girl Was To Read A Book In A Bar

This is the first part of a Texas Liberal series of reminisces as I turn 40 this week. 

The first time I got drunk was in a gay bar called the Eagle Club in Columbus, Ohio. What I recall most from the night was a large video screen over the dance floor playing Dead or Alive’s Brand New Lover and a huge man wearing a big fur coat.

I think the Eagle Club is gone now or has relocated after some type of ownership dispute.

The bar I spent the most time in was Sub Galley on Short Vine Street in Cincinnati. It was the kind of place where you felt you might get tuberculosis from other patrons.

The man who made the submarine sandwiches back in the kitchen was very religious and quiet. This stood in some contrast to what was taking place out in the bar. I think he was praying for our souls.

I did a lot of reading in bars. I found this was a good way to get a girl who would not otherwise speak to me to actually initiate a conversation herself.

“What are you reading?”

Yes—It does score points with a girl to have a 700 page biography of Charles de Gaulle in your hands.

I once made a list of every bar I had visited in Cincinnati. I wish I could find that list because it was impressive. I recall I had maybe 60 bars on my list. Every type of bar except a country bar.

I had no problem being the only straight guy in a gay bar or being the only white guy in a black bar.

But some things are a lot to ask.

My bar days are (mostly) over now. I put in my time.      

Marciano vs. Louis In The Mess Hall

A few days ago I saw two restaurant workers shadow boxing in Downtown Houston. This reminded me of a story my father once told me about his time in the army.

My father was in one of the early desegregated army units. President Harry Truman desegregated the army in 1948. What my father related took place around 1950.

My father said he used to shadow box with a black solider in the mess hall. Dad, an Italian, would pretend he was Rocky Marciano and the other guy would imagine himself as Joe Louis. 

( The photo is of Louis in the army. It comes from the National Archives. Louis got a raw deal from the army. He was forced to pay taxes on money he had donated to the troops from some of his fights.)

My father had seen Marciano fight in Providence, Rhode Island in the 1940’s.  

My father said the other soldiers did not know what to make of the play-fighting. He said they were sometimes concerned that the fighting was real. I guess I can infer that not much mixing between the races took place at the time. 

Recent stories have discussed a decline in black enlistment in the army since the Iraq War. Black Americans don’t want to die for nothing in George Bush’s war in Iraq.

I’m not sure what blacks had to fight for in Korea back in 1950—Though at least Harry Truman had done something for them. To this day my father does not know why he was in Korea. 

Louis and Marciano fought each other once. In 1951, Marciano knocked out Louis. This would be the last fight for Louis.   

  

I’m Not Alone And Neither Is The Blue Whale

 

In the Audubon Society’s Guide to Marine Mammals of the World, a comparison is made between a school of dolphins and a single solitary Blue Whale.

(To my surprise, the book indicates Blue Whales can off occur of the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico.)

The dolphin school is likely feeding and “… is probably a temporary gathering…” On the other hand, the Blue Whale “may be in acoustic communication with one or more other Blue Whales many miles away.”

Reading this, I felt an identification with that one Blue Whale. I spend a lot of time alone, but I don’t regard myself as anti-social.

I often use time alone to consider my next blog post or to think about things I would like to say to others. I use time alone to consider how I want to behave around others and to digest interactions I have had with friends or at work.

My time alone is not used for communication in the direct sense that the big whale is practicing. But it is often used in way that will help me communicate with others.

We see a number of people together and we may assume that they are out and being social. We may feel that way regardless of the quality of conversation taking place or the despite the possible absence of enduring relationships between people in the group.

We see someone alone and we may assume that she is in all regards by herself.

In many important respects, the opposite of our assumptions may well be the case.   

John Cotton Of Massachusetts Bay Colony—Still Worth Study After 400 Years

 

I’ve begun reading The Colonial Mind 1620-1800 by Vernon Parrington.

Professor Parrington taught English at the University of Washington. He died in 1929. The Colonial Mind was published in 1927. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1928. 

I have some observations and reactions to Parrington’s chapter on John Cotton of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

John Cotton lived from 1584 until 1652. A deeply religious man, Cotton moved in his lifetime from religious liberalism to orthodoxy. He arrived in Boston from England in 1633. He wanted to practice his vision of faith in a new world. Though here, I’m not as interested in Cotton’s religion as in other aspects of his life.

Parrington writes that according to Cotton’s grandson, “Twelve hours in a day he commonly studied, and would call that a scholar’s day.”

What a wonderful life.

Writes Parrington—“But however much he loved cloistered scholarship, the immediate source of his great influence was the spoken word rather than the written word” 

Consider that Socrates did not leave behind one written word. Nor did Jesus. And, of course, in our day-to-day lives we have the ability to carefully choose our words and have influence with others.

And how about that despite his love for books, Cotton was also out with the people. He had that right on both counts. You’ve got to get out there and make your views known.

Writes Parrington— He seems to have been an altogether lovable person….gentle-voiced, courteous, tactful, by nature “a tolerant man”… (who) gladly discovered a friend in an antagonist.

I wonder what self-discipline went into constructing that personality. Or is it natural in some?

Writes Parrington—He was not a man to persecute and harry, nor was he one to stand in isolated opposition to associates he respected, and he allowed himself to be coerced by narrower minded men…”

I guess choose your friends wisely has always been true. Peer pressure is not just about teenagers.

Writes Parrington— “….His frequent tacking in the face of adverse winds is characteristic of the intellectual who sees all sides of a question.” 

I get that. This is a reason why I think it’s important to sometimes embrace silly and even irrational impulses at times. Not everything is about thinking stuff out. Hence the saying. “analysis is paralysis” 

Writes Parrington—“If John Cotton…was a confirmed aristocrat….he was at the same time a social revolutionary who would….refashion society upon ethical rather than economic lines.” 

Somewhat like Martin Luther King in these aspects.

Writes Parrington—How easy it is for good men, in the presence of the new and strange, to draw back in timid reaction; and failing to understand, or fearing for their prestige, to charge upon the new and strange a host of evils that exists only in their panic imaginations!

I don’t think any of us can say we are immune to this kind of reaction no matter how open-minded we picture ourselves. 

9/28/07—Please Check out Roger Williams post on Texas Liberal.  

Effort And Imagination Makes Friendships

I have a friend named Nora who up until last week I had not seen in maybe 20 years.

I knew Nora when I was in college in Cincinnati. We hung out at the same bars and we knew some of the same people.

A couple of years ago I got to thinking about Nora. I recalled three things about her—

1. She often threw parties and one always felt welcome at her apartment.

2. When I spent a few weeks in Spain in 1988, Nora was one of two people to send me a letter while I was away.

3. Nora sent out holiday cards each year while most people I knew were out drinking and whatnot. I know I did not send out any holiday cards.

It occurred to me that if Nora had these qualities when we were, in essence, kids, that she might well still be a good person.

I tracked Nora down and e-mailed her. We talked on the phone a few times. Last week we had lunch in Cincinnati. She was willing to drive from her home in Columbus, Ohio 220 miles round-trip to have lunch with the wife and myself.

Now I’ve got a friend I’ll have for a long time ahead.   

Somewhere there is somebody from your past who would love to hear from you and would enjoy a renewed friendship.  With a little effort and imagination it can be worked out.    

   

Summer Blogging Break Reading List

 

It’s time for a summer blogging break from Texas Liberal. I need a week off.

(Though I suppose I might sneak in a post if I can’t contain myself.)  

A summer blogging break requires a reading list.

Here are some suggestions— 

The Age Of Reform —From Bryan To F.D.R by Richard Hofstadter.

Published in 1955, Reform still has value. The account of years of progress gives hope that we can turn out own times around and the Americans Hofstadter writes about are often types still recognizable in the current day.

Crossing The Yellow River—Three Hundred Poems From The Chinese translated by Sam Hamill. 

One of my favorite books. The brief poems from ancient Chinese poets take you back in time and have the effect of putting you in a mindset of reflection.

Leviathan—The History Of Whaling In America by Eric Jay Dolan 

Just published. It’s the kind of subject you’re either interested in or not. I’m interested.

(The photo is of a Northern Right Whale.) 

Care Bears Caring Contest—By Nancy Parent

The Care Bears have a contest to see who can be the nicest. At the end a tie is declared and each one of the Care Bears wins a prize. Damn right. Just the program. 

Infrastructure— A Field Guide To The Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes

Oversized book tells all about cell phone towers and train yards and other things we see each day, but don’t really understand their purpose or how they work. Many pictures. First-rate.

The Great Political Theories Volumes 1 & 2-—Edited by Michael Curtis

Shorthand explanations of political ideas all the way back the ancient world in two mass-market sized paperbacks.

Beach reading? Well….I once read Jaws by Peter Benchley and I thought it was awful. I’d rent the movie. Nevil Shute’s On The Beach is a winner. 

Two great Texas blogs to read this summer and all of the time are Jobsanger from Amarillo and South Texas Chisme from the Corpus Christi area.

Also this summer, please consider some of the central tenets of American liberalism.

Liberals contend that individuals are part of a larger society, that we are dependent upon each other in many ways, and that government has some role to play in the lives of individual citizens and in society as a whole.

Lastly, please don’t forget that I also blog at Where’s The Outrage? and that I have one of five featured political blogs at The Houston Chronicle.  

I hope everybody is having a nice summer.

Cindy Sheehan–One Person Doing Her Best In An Often Lousy World

Cindy Sheehan, who I once saw in Crawford, Texas, has lately taken heat from some on the left.

Ms. Sheehan said she was leaving the Iraq War peace movement. But she was soon back in the news saying she might run an independent candidacy against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

I think Ms. Sheehan is pursuing an uncertain course at the moment. I’d support Ms. Pelosi over Ms. Sheehan if I had a vote in that hypothetical race.

However, that said, I think Ms. Sheehan’s critics on the left should consider a much more forgiving view.

It took a certain type of personality and a good deal of courage for Ms. Sheehan to take the anti-war stand she took and to camp out near President Bush’s ranch. It’s a type of personality people on the left should understand and appreciate. It’s stressful to speak up when others won’t.

Ms. Sheehan is doing the best she can in an often lousy world.

As for running against Ms. Pelosi, Democrats in Congress rolled over for President Bush’s agenda for a long time. What does Ms. Sheehan owe Democrats?

Putting aside Ms. Sheehan to a degree, some say that actions taken outside the two major parties are doomed to be ineffective.

To this I reply–What political party did Martin Luther King or Malcolm X represent?

What political party did Susan B. Anthony represent?

What political party did William Lloyd Garrison represent?

What political party did Tecumseh or Sitting Bull represent?

Ralph Nader has become, for some good reason I admit, the poster child for bashing efforts outside the two major parties. Yet where had long-standing Democratic majorities in Congress been on the issue of automotive safety before Mr. Nader led that crusade?

There is room for all kinds in this life.

If commentators and observers on the left don’t get that concept, who will?   

What Does Our Poor Democracy Say About How People Feel About Themselves?

If democracy is a mirror of the people, what does consistently poor voter turnout in Houston, among other places, and restrictive term limits for elected officials reflect?

We often say people don’t vote because they’re not interested in politics or because they are busy. People say that candidates on the ballot offer no real options. I’m sure all these things are true to a degree.

I’ve wondered sometimes to what extent poor voter turnout also reflects a lack of confidence people have in their own judgment. Or to what extent it reflects the fact that people feel bad about the place they live.

Turning over control of who gets elected seems to indicate resignation over the future and even a measure of self-loathing. Would people who feel hopeful about the future or who feel good about themselves willingly allow others to determine how they’ll be governed? 

Term limits are always a bad idea. In Houston, if you can imagine, City Council members are limited to three two-year terms. Why would voters limit their own options? Do voters feel they need to be protected from themselves?

Democracy is a synthesis of public and private. The views we hold about public issues are formed by our personal experience of the world. Our private thoughts are a result of the world we see around us.

When democracy seems to be falling short of its potential, we should look for reasons why in the mirror and, also, in the private thoughts and feelings of individuals.    

Confederate War Dead In Austin

I recently visited the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. There are many Confederate dead at that spot. In my view, a Confederate flag is little different than a swastika.

Yet at the cemetery, I wondered to what extent the dead men had cared about the cause. If they had been born in Vermont instead of Texas, they likely would have fought for the other side.

My father was a medic in the Korean War. Despite a red cross on his arm band, people shot at him and he shot back. I once asked my father if he had been angry at the Chinese and North Korean troops on the other side. He said no. He said something like that they were just poor bastards little different from himself.

Maybe that is easy for him to say years after the fact. But he was there and that is surely his impression today.

Individuals are culpable for atrocities. It’s a harder call about what to think of someone who fought under standard rules of war. Most of us are in many respects the poor bastards my father saw across enemy lines.

Here is a link to the well-known Allen Tate poem “Ode to the Confederate Dead.”