It doesn't get any more American than the 4th of July. We all love it!
Despite the heat (my car's thermometer read 102 degrees this afternoon), we're outside eating celebratory meals, going to parades, shooting off fireworks, letting kids stay up faaaaaarrrr too late, and celebrating as a whole country. It's one of the great highlights of summer!
And well it should be.
But lately I've been feeling like the foundation of what we celebrate is being denigrated. That the very bedrock that allows us, indeed enjoins us, to celebrate is being laid waste.
Politics. The 4th of July IS politics!
People say it like it's a dirty word. "Ugh, politics." You may hate Trump, or you may hate Hillary, but either way, you hate politics. There are office politics, family politics, local politics, state politics, federal politics, and politics in general, and they're all loathed. If it's unpleasant, label it "politics" and roll your eyes as you say the word, and everyone around you will smile and nod in sympathetic understanding.
I've heard John J. Miller, (author, speaker, and professor at Hillsdale College) tell the joke numerous times, "You know the definition of politics, right? POLY - meaning many. TICS - meaning blood sucking parasites." He says it in jest, but it's funny, because most people agree.
But you know, I love politics. I mean, I LOVE politics! I've spent years studying them, reading about them, observing, discussing, and thinking about them. They are the art by which governance happens. Done well, they are the art by which all other things thrive, or done poorly they are the art by which all other things fail to thrive.
The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker of the poem - their government (i.e. politics) provides the framework within which their businesses may thrive or wither. The employee, the self-employed, the homemaker - all affected by the government (i.e. politics) under which they live.
Think of the government of Germany during the Second World War - government done poorly - a despotic dictator. Businesses wilted, individual freedom removed, resources rationed and still massively lacking. No one was happy. Politics.
Think of America - it's not perfect here certainly. To quote James Madison in Federalist 51, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." We're not perfect - you and me - thus we need laws and we need a government to make and enforce those laws so that we can get along together. We're not perfect. And neither are those involved in our government. They yell at their kids when they don't mean to, they forget their keys in their locked car, they misspeak, and they see the world a little or a lot differently than you or I because of the life they have lived. In short, they are human.
Consequently, our government, made up of imperfect people to govern imperfect people, is itself imperfect. It's ugly. It's horrible. To quote Winston Churchill, "Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time..." (Nov. 11, 1947) Isn't that the truth?!?
But there's a phrase Churchill uses leading into the above quote that I don't think is true anymore. Here's the quote including his preceding phrase: "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time..."
From what I can tell, EVERYONE today assumes that democracy should be perfect and all-wise, and the reason it's not is because we have the wrong candidate in the White House or on the Hill. And if it's a mid-term election then it's the other political party's fault. Entirely. Or the Nazis. Because if you disagree with an individual politically, likely you can accuse them of being a Nazi and immediately "win" the argument.
But as I've been reading memiors of Holocaust survivors, I've wondered, do we KNOW what Nazism is anymore? Can you articulate why Trump is preferable to Hitler (because he IS, no matter how much you dislike him)? What is the beauty of the American system that has for nearly 250 years permitted the peaceful transfer of massive amounts of power from one individual to another, from one political party to another?
I should clarify, I don't love local politics generally. I don't love modern politics. It's hard today to tell what's true, who's actually doing what, or why they're doing what they're doing in the first place. It's just plain messy and confusing.
What I love to do is consider modern politics in light of what I really love: political philosophy. Thinking about modern politics within the framework of things like the rule of law (which, by the way, is the primary reason we enjoy the peaceful transition of power), gives perspective. It helps boil inflammatory headlines ("[insert political party here] Want Children Separated From Parents at the Border") to the root issues: what does the law say? Why does it say that? Should it say that? If so, how do we enforce it? If not, how do we change it?
And the most important question for you and me: what can we, as citizens, do about any of it?
We can talk about it. Let's talk about the law. What does it say? Why does it say it? Is it good? If it's not good, what are options to fix it? Talking seems like doing nothing, perhaps, but we're becoming afraid to do it these days. Governance takes deliberation. Self-governance, especially, takes deliberation. And our society relies on citizens exercising self-governance. So let's talk, deliberate, about how to self-govern well. And within those discussions we may land on something worth sharing with an elected official. Or maybe we'll just gain a better understanding of each other or ourselves. These are all worthy outcomes!
And we should reasonably exercise the right to vote when those opportunities present themselves. Don't vote if you don't know the candidates, but do make an effort to know them. Our system of government is predicated on an educated (and self-governed) citizenry voting imperfect individuals into a wide variety of offices. What a gift that we're not reliant on birth or fortune alone to determine our representatives!
Speaking of elected representatives, their families, and the individuals who work on their staffs... when was the last time you thanked them?
Whenever I see servicemen, servicewomen or veterans, they are thanked. Their sacrifice, their service, what they have all done has made it possible for me to do what I do here and now. My freedom is not free - it has been bought at a price.
But please remember this Independence Day the sacrifices made by all those who do politics. Some of them have families, just like yours and mine. And instead of celebrating the 4th with their families, they're stuck in a former swamp, now metro-plex where the humidity is 110%, the temp is 110 degrees, and they pay outrageous rent for tiny spaces that they can't afford to buy. They raise their children in small apartments, not houses with yards, and commute over an hour to work each way. They work absurd (80+) hours each week to try to make a positive difference and get lambasted in the media no matter what they do. Their jobs aren't assured past the next election, and their pay is in no way commiserate with what they could make in the private sector.
They do things I don't want to do right now so that I CAN do what I want to do right now! Because they and their families make sacrifices to be part of civil service to our country, we get to NOT be civil servants and pursue life, liberty and happiness in ways other than the dreaded politics. (Did you ever think of that? If they didn't do what they do, you wouldn't be able to do what you do?)
Not everyone who does politics makes all or any of these specific sacrifices. I don't agree with how many people do politics. But. As one of my grad school profs pointed out, there are literally tens of thousands of people who are really smart working toward solutions to really complex problems (immigration anyone?). But the problems are complex, and usually old, and typically come with lots of baggage. If answers are easy, they have been tried.
I'm not saying American politics is perfect. It's horrible. It's the worst ever! Except for all the other things that have been tried. We are privileged to live here, to work here, to be able to influence our government, perhaps most of all by our own self-government.
This 4th of July, please don't disparage politics. We get to celebrate Independence Day because of politics. Let's be grateful not only to those who have made and are making incredible sacrifices to fight for our freedoms, but let's also be grateful to those who have made and are making huge sacrifices to govern for our freedoms.
Politics. Happy 4th of July.
