Tag Archives: January 6 2021

Taking Democracy for Granted?

Watching events in Britain following the death of Queen Elizabeth II has given me a new admiration for a country that has practiced an evolution of democracy through centuries of existence. To an outsider, the British form of government is a gigantic hodgepodge of laws and practices and traditions. Yet it works as a democracy.

I’m concerned about my own country of America in comparison. You would think, considering our traditions of self-government and “government by the people” and our Constitution, we would be just as firmly certain of our democratic traditions here.

Yet, we’re the ones who almost lost, if not the republic, something close to it with the storming of the Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral ballots on January 6, 2021.

Writes Adam Russell Taylor: “It’s both alarming and bitterly ironic that false claims of a stolen election continue to be used to make a truly stolen election increasingly possible.” (“Democracy Can Be Easily Taken for Granted,” Sojourners, Sept/Oct 2022)

In that same issue of Sojourners, Rose Marie Berger writes of the recent visit of seventeen international religious leaders to Ukraine. (“Come and See.”) They were answering an appeal from requests on Ukraine social media for religious leaders to visit Ukraine in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

She commented on the false religious teaching of Putin and others seeking to build a country around “a particular ‘race or tribe.’ It’s what happens when religion cloaks ethno-nationalism with a veneer of mortal rectitude.”

The temptation of political power is strong. Some would even use religion as a weapon to gain that power instead of as a path to God.

Stopping Before the Water’s Edge?

Arthur Vandenberg, Republican senator from Michigan (1928-1951), is credited with saying that American politics “stops at the water’s edge.”

We take this to mean that although U.S. political parties may favor different directions for the country domestically, we are united in our international policies. In other words, we care for our country too much to be divided in dealing with the rest of the world.

Though not always (Vietnam comes to mind), Americans do tend to support international policies of whoever is governing. The problem usually is with our national policies. Here agin, however, it’s not simple disagreement. We do not simply disagree on direction for our schools, or on the amount of attention paid to our racial history, or on police actions, or on abortion, or on a host of other matters. Now we are tempted to believe that our side must win even if it means ignoring democratic principles.

Some of us don’t really believe in elected governments. Some of us would cheerfully override constitutional checks if we think we can get away with it.

Our country isn’t a pure democracy, of course. The states have more power than individual voters because our constitution allows two senators for each state, regardless of that’s state’s population. The division of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial also is in constant flux.

However, the danger comes when we advocate forceful overthrow of our government by small armed groups, as the events of January 6, 2021, demonstrated.

Rule by popular government is far from perfect. It certainly does not always elect the best leaders. However, allowing a small group to oversee our government is far more dangerous. The temptation to dictatorship, to the use of government for our own selfish purposes, is always present if only a small group governs. In a democracy, we can change peacefully.

At least we can, if we will individually allow the other side the right to win.

Overcoming an Attempted Coup

The picture of Russian politician Boris Yeltsin on the steps of the Russian parliament in August 1991 forever symbolizes his finest moment. He and a few supporters overcame a coup attempt to take over Russia’s first attempts at democracy.

Later, after the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down, Yeltsin became president of an independent Russia. He was never again as popular or as successful as in those heady days when he led the successful resistance to the attempted coup.

Eventually, Vladimir Putin took over Russian leadership and followed the path toward dictatorship.

A democracy is difficult to bring about and sometimes difficult to keep, once birthed, even in the United States.

During a hot summer in 1776 in Philadelphia, representatives from British colonies in North America declared their independence from Great Britain. They crafted their new republic with a Declaration of Independence.

As it was being declared, an onlooker in the crowd reportedly asked Benjamin Franklin, “What kind of government do we have now?”

Franklin is reported to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

We may look back on January 6, 2021, as the day Vice President Mike Pence stood down an American version of a coup against that republic.