Defending Democracy

We’ve just started a New Year, with all the promise and possibility that brings, as well as all the dread and foreboding many feel. Let’s be honest, if you’re paying attention and you care about democracy and human rights, we’re at a grim moment.

Today is the 4-year anniversary of the Insurrection, which was an attack on democracy. And while United States democracy held that day, and ultimately the 2020 election was certified and Joe Biden was inaugurated as President, it has not held since. Donald Trump should not have been eligible to run again for President, and in fact should have faced legal accountability for his role in the Insurrection. Instead, he will go back to the Oval Office in two weeks, emboldened by the lack of restraints on would-be authoritarianism and surrounded by only people who are interested in enriching themselves and/or Trump, reducing human rights and/or restricting democracy.

I know many people have decided that after the disappointment – for those who support democracy – of Trump defeating Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5^th election, they are going to take a step back from politics, check out from what’s going on in the world, ignore the news as much as possible. Each person has to do what is right for them, and certainly in some instances, this might be necessary for a period, whether for survival or while getting through a particularly difficult time. Sometimes I almost wish I could do that, but I really don’t have it in me, not for more than a few days.

My personality, my being, just won’t allow me to ignore the state of the world. There are many ways one can make a difference, but I believe in my core that the U.S. sliding and sliding downwards on a scale from democracy to authoritarianism is among the most dangerous things that can happen in the world. Democracy in the United States was never anything close to perfect. Yet it had been improving in many ways, with more groups gaining access to vote and protections of their rights.

Until the last few years.

Now protections of democracy and human rights are going backwards, with misogyny, homophobia, racism and xenophobia on the upsurge.

And what happens in the U.S. doesn’t only affect those in the U.S. It has ripple, if not tsunami, effects around the world. From backsliding on democracy in places like Hungary and Turkey to attempts at insurrections/coups in Brazil and South Korea.

I don’t know yet exactly how I can make the most impact in support of a strong and inclusive democracy, beyond my role on the Board of The Opportunity Agenda (TOA). I am thinking deeply about that. But I do know that my parents always said that “to whom much has been given, much is expected,” which I’ll be honest, I didn’t even remember was a Bible verse until I searched today for the origin of that saying. It’s Luke 12:48: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

And I think I am among the many who are fortunate to enter 2025 in a position of strength, a position to make a positive impact on the world. And we must. Lives depend on it. Democracy depends on it.