Are we headed for the end of democracy? I have been wondering about this for a few years, and the answers do not seem encouraging. One of our political parties, which seems to favor power without the rule of law, is trying to disenfranchise poor folks and people of color. Those groups, of course, overlap quite a bit.
And now we seem to be in the process of telling women what they can and can not do with their own bodies. Has anyone read “The Handmaid’s Tale”? So we’re going to tell a pregnant 16-year-old girl who has no hope of graduating high school that she must have the child? And will us wealthy white guys be willing to provide her any financial support, or will we just label her a lazy welfare mom and doom her and her child to a lifetime of poverty?
So it seems us wealthy white guys want to be in total control. Some of us even supported a violent takeover of the United States government. A significant minority of the U.S. public apparently still believes that the election results were faked, and we even have elected officials backtracking on whether the insurrection (attempted coup?) was justified.
Let me share with you a quote from former President Calvin Coolidge: “Disintegration begins within. We are the possessors of tremendous power, both as individuals and as states. The great question of our institutions is a moral question. Shall we use our power for self-aggrandizement or for service? It has been lack of moral fiber which has been the downfall of the peoples of the past.”
Do we have any moral fiber? Or is the America headed for the history books with the other failed civilizations that self-destructed?
John Richards
Peterborough