Democracy is messy. It always has been. That doesn’t make it right, but it’s reassuring to know that there’s nothing new here except for the fervent frenzy exacerbated by a world that knows too much too quickly—and often shares it through unintended or deliberate misinformation.
Winston Churchill is credited with saying that “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”
In the movie, “An American President,” Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd famously said, “America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight.”
I’m actually pleased with the result—not because of provisions I like or dislike, but because two avowed enemies found a path to help the nation first and themselves second. It calls up the adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The arch-enemy in this case was an economic default that could have had disastrous consequences, not only for the US but the world.
To be clear, I’ve never been a Kevin McCarthy fan. But, I will give him his props for finding a way past the right-wing nutjobs that pretend to want what’s best for the country. Of course, there already are cries to remove him as speaker by such right-wingers as Colorado Representative Ken Buck. There will be more.
Also in the name of clarity, I want to say I’m almost as fed up with the left-wing nutjobs as their right-wing counterparts.
I freely admit that I’m a fan of compromise, especially critical at this time when political powder kegs are blowing up all over the place. It’s a fundamental tenet of democracy, and it’s a path to improving today’s mine-filled landscape.
Interestingly, when comparing the extremes in both parties, some of the same rights—such as free speech—appear imperiled. For example, if the extreme right-wing were to prevail, the likelihood of an autocracy where free speech comes at the risk of imprisonment or worse is ultimately very high. Donald Trump, for instance, has made it clear he admires and wants to emulate the style of Vladimir Putin. And, quasi-dictator Ron DeSantis seems to be doing everything he can to restrict free speech in Florida.
Meanwhile, in the “progressive” left-wing camp, anyone saying, doing, or gesturing anything that can be construed as racist, homophobic, or intolerant is subject to vilification—often long before the facts are known. An Atlantic Magazine article cites one such example: “…Emmanuel Cafferty, a truck driver…appears to have been tricked into making an ‘okay’ symbol by a driver he cut off at a traffic light. The inevitable viral video claimed that this was a deliberate use of the symbol as a white-power gesture, and he was promptly fired.”
The article continues, “Cafferty is a working-class man in his 40s from San Diego. The loss of his job hit him hard enough that he saw a counselor. ‘A man can learn from making a mistake…But what am I supposed to learn from this? It’s like I was struck by lightning.’…The phrase is haunting—not being racist is not going to save you if the lightning strikes. Nor is the fact that your comments lie decades in the past, or that they have been misinterpreted by bad-faith actors, or that you didn’t make them. The ground—your life—is scorched just the same…It is strange that ‘cancel culture’ has become a project of the left, which spent the 20th century fighting against capricious firings of ‘troublesome’ employees.”
While what was really in Cafferty’s heart is subject to debate, it certainly appears he was just flashing an innocent “OK” gesture—not willfully promoting white power. Regardless, he was tried, convicted, and fired by his utility employer without any due process to avoid any appearance of condoning inappropriate behavior.
The takeaway, in my opinion, has largely led to and informed outrageous right-wing behavior over the past decade-plus, is that you’d better not say or do anything that might lead to prosecution by cancel-culturists. So much for free speech.
If our democratic republic is to survive, compromise must thrive. It’s that simple and that complicated.
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Gray Flannel Head 