FIVE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
Teaching Democracy to Savages (Us)
- Constitutional Government: a written constitution and a government elected by the people.
- Equality of treatment under the law.
- No titled nobility.
- Individual liberties guaranteed in law.
- Every human being is born with rights and is guaranteed, in Thomas Jefferson’s phrase, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. This eloquent phrase expresses one of our nation’s most cherished principles.
COMMENTARY
Keep in mind many groups today are covered by the rights of citizenship who were not included at the time of the signing. The best that can be said here is that a promise was being made by the young nation to adhere to certain democratic principles. The subsequent extension of voting rights to all groups once excluded is not an accidental byproduct of the principles of the Declaration of Independence but an expression of the “heart and soul” of its intended purpose.
At the risk of sounding naïve, I’ll try to save the contradiction between lofty idealism and brutal reality in this manner; it was the hope and the intention of the Founding Fathers to create a democratic society: one that would continuously improve itself–which is to say, become more democratic–over time. For both believers and doubters, there remains a moral obligation to keep faith with those who went before us and the best (not the worst) of their deeds and thoughts.
The men and women who fought the battles of the Civil War, the Union troops who held Cemetery Ridge at the Battle of Gettysburg, continued the fight for the ideals enunciated during the American Revolution. Their willingness to sacrifice their lives would soon give new meaning to America’s struggle for equality. Their courage made Gettysburg the most dramatic victory of the Union Army and the turning point of the war. They carried forward the struggle for liberty once more. The promise made in 1776 lived on!
Workers in the 1880’s labored 12-14 hours a day, sometimes six or seven days per week. They laid down their tools and went on strike for a new idea in American history: the eight-hour day. When they won some of the first skirmishes of that struggle, the promise of 1776 lived on.
(Due to space and time constraints, the author cannot list all the other popular struggles that have advanced America’s reputation for human rights and human dignity, but there have been many.)
Through every protracted struggle for human rights—for independence, for the abolition of slavery, for labor, for the civil rights of minorities, for the woman’s right to vote, for unions, for safer working conditions in coal mines textile mills and every workplace in the country, for peace not war, for Native American rights, for the rights of prisoners, for the rights of terminally ill patients, for the rights of the disabled, for the rights of college students to enjoy academic freedom (to study and learn and say anything)–the promise of liberty lived on!
There are times during life, especially during particularly difficult or intense struggles, where issues may appear clouded over, the path to truth obscured, the multiplicity of points of view confusing and bewildering, yet the American people have been through many tough struggles before and likely will find the strength to endure many more in the future.
The give-and-take of ordinary life on a day to day basis may sometimes obscure the struggle and hide from view the desired outcome– but rest assured new victories are coming and will never stop coming. It’s in our DNA: democratic national attitude.
Witness the American people’s rather long list of victories to extend human and civil rights to all Americans over the last 200 years (despite the dark chapters) to get us to where we are today in terms of technology, high standard of living, and guaranteed individual liberties for all. Then ask yourself this one question:
Do you believe the American people are fully capable of governing themselves, as our Founding Fathers believed? Do you believe we, the American people, have sufficient understanding and tolerance to continue to extend and protect this same set of freedom rights for ourselves and all Americans– can we do as good a job as previous generations have done for us? Aye, that is the question, plain and simple!
Past generations have spilled their blood in the belief that somewhere on earth at least one country would openly and willingly proclaim its belief in the goal of universal freedom for all people, a nation which would never stop trying to create a land where peace and reason rule.
Can the American people rule themselves? The author believes this to be true, and more than true, but such promises do not come without a price.
Much effort, courage, and perseverance are needed for all such difficult struggles as these. As Thomas Jefferson remarked, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance”.
Entrenched power does not give up easily. I do not expect to see all the battles won in my lifetime, nor will this struggle be over during the lives of your children or grandchildren.
Each generation is called upon to do what it can to make this world a better place to live. No one can you tell you how to live your life but when in doubt try to remember some of the wisdom words you’ve heard in this class:
Live close to Mother Earth. Enjoy the life-giving power of her trees and plants used for food and medicine, her life-giving offerings.
Live in harmony with Nature. Live in balance with all living things. Remember that which is out of balance can be put right again. To do that we need people who can remember and teach the old ways. The greatest gift of all from Native Americans to the world–to– is an understanding of “Earth Nature” and “Human Nature”. Indeed, our native cultures have practiced human virtue for countless generations and raised these virtues to an art form: compassion, courage, honesty, loyalty, and perseverance.
While they themselves suffered from wave after wave of brutal conquest, they continued to defend human dignity and the rights of all to live peacefully on the land. Tribes and nations practiced self-government long before the Founding Fathers met to draft the Constitution.
Native Americans understood the concept of equality in ways that the new nation still struggles to achieve; they are described as “savages” when in truth the European-Americans never took the time to offer a hand of friendship. The colonists did not bother to learn about Native American society and culture fairly and without bias.
Historically, Native Americans practiced self-rule; theirs was no mere democratic form of government “in theory”– theirs was a living, breathing, democratic government in practice.
The United States can hardly claim more. It is saddening to realize that the very people who could teach Americans the most about democratic government often sit in lonely despair. They suffer the worst effects of poverty on the poorest reservations in the midst of a wealthy nation.
But then, when has politics ever been simply “political” to such a degree that economics did not enter into the picture? Avarice and greed, even when criminal and murderous, took over the minds of many European colonists–whose fears and ambitions were fueled by wealthier men of still greater ambitions.
The wealthiest aristocrats of the thirteen colonies schemed to multiply their riches by getting hold of Indian lands. What followed was a theft of land on a grand scale . . . the land we live on today. Larceny, robbery, broken promises, legal fictions and deceit backed by armed force–whatever it took, these greedy aggressors stooped as low as they could to steal land from Native Americans.
The gang of thieves committed every immoral action imaginable (some much too graphic for polite textbooks) until they lost touch with their humanity and all sense of moral decency.
And yet native peoples, who suffered to an unimaginable degree, may still hold the key to teaching everyone the value of a healthy environment and how to live in balance with nature, where one does not need to destroy our life-sustaining environment. The benefits of mutual cooperation–based on trust and respect–put our two-party circus campaigns to shame.
Indian peoples produced orators and philosophers; they are not savages and they deserve to be heard. Schoolchildren and adults were misled for too long by over-exposure to one set of writers in our schools and textbooks but those one-sided authors are but one small group among many writers today. Other authors have fathomed much deeper truths.
Native Americans have represented this ethos–this complex mix of philosophical ideas, virtues, and democratic practices–with great dignity and courage all these many long years.
Indeed, they have raised notions of loyalty, honor and wisdom to their highest pinnacle and compare favorably with what other cultures achieved elsewhere: Rome, India, China, Persia, Inca, Mayan, or what have you. The absence of large buildings of stone should not blind us to the more important Native American achievements in environmental balance and moral wisdom.
Native American peoples excelled at developing well qualities that we all esteem–patience, compassion, honesty, loyalty, and a sense of honor.
In all their interactions with Mother Earth, they worked out a practical way of sharing and sustaining life-giving resources. They developed a highly-refined spiritual way of appreciating the woods, hills, lakes, and rivers.
In a day and age when we may be heading for an environmental catastrophe of the first order– whose exact magnitude of devastation cannot yet be made out but may dwarf all previous mass extinctions beyond our wildest fears–we would do well to listen to our Native American brethren . . . for it may be our last chance.
