September 2024 – Susan Feathers

“Remember the ladies… Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.” ~ Abigail Adams

One of the treasures of the early American Republic is Abigail Adams, First Lady with President John Adams. She wrote a trove of letters to her husband John during the colonies’ break with Britain and the subsequent American Revolution. She endured President Adam’s long absences as he worked to finance the revolution and then later to construct a binding set of prinicples and laws that would help a new democracy sustain itself and grow. It was a formative time in our nation’s hsitory without the pomp and circumstance we modern Americans expect. The White House was but a dirty shell without furniture or amenities. Building continued during Adams’s Presidency, accomplished by enslaved people in sight of the symbols of freedom and equality.

Now consider that Abraham Lincoln held that the central principle of a democracy is consent of the governed. Consent he said derived from this: If I would not be a slave, so I must not enslave any person. Lincoln called this the “sheet anchor” of the Republic. This is realized through each person’s morality, that we consent to not impose any rule on another person without their consent. This creates high expectations on all Americans to live up to the principals outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I want my freedom of speech protected, I must protect every other person’s right to free speech.

The keystone of our American Democracy lay with the virtues or mores that each citizen must possess to fully engage in a democratic form of governance.

Without these guidewires, democracies risk the rise of despots who would misuse the words of freedom to their own selfish ends. This was the caution Abigail gave to John Adams. Women are providing strong leadership today. Kamala Harris is such a woman. She has a keen sense of humor and eagle eye for connivers and crooks and possesses the clarity and will to stand up for the truth without fear. We witnessed this in the only debate with Trump.

Such women are changemakers.

In the American body politic people’s common sense is kicking in as we are daily shocked by the ravages and rantings of what has become a diminished Republican Party and home to authoritarians.

Over time we have allowed people and parties and other countries to chip away at our democratic norms, twisting their meaning, denigrating their importance.

Republicans of the grand old party are joining Kamala and Tim to prevent men and women who have lost their moral compass and whose behavior is outside the boundaries (democratic norms) that leaders of a democracy must possess.

As more and more citizens join The Party of Opportunity, a new consensus is forming that is center of left and center of right. At least each shares a belief in the principles inherent in democracy and the Constitution – the expected norms by which we operate, legislate, and govern ourselves.

If we can take this yearning for truth and decency, to form a body politic that works together on behalf of all of us, then we may rise again as the most vibrant hope for a democratic way of life on Earth.

It’s possible we might even rescue civil discourse.

Sunrise on the Gulf of Mexico. Photo by Susan Feathers

Return to our Earthwalk

“John O’Donohue was born in 1956, into a native Gaelic speaking family, on the farm inhabited by previous generations in the Burren Region of County Clare, Ireland. As the oldest of four children, he learned to work alongside his parents and uncle, developing a close kinship with the wild landscape, framed by an ethereal view of a limestone valley and the beckoning waters of Galway Bay. This valley was the shell of John’s soul, forging a deep and powerful connection with the elements shaping him. He was educated at the local primary school, alternating his studies with the farm chores of tending livestock, raising crops and carving peat for fuel, in his youth. John later described the profound influence of his childhood home as, “A huge wild invitation to extend your imagination…an ancient conversation between the land and sea.”

John Interviewed by Krista Tippett on the OnBreing Program/Podcast

David Axelrod Interviewed by Nicole Hemmer, Director, Rogers Center for the American Presidency

In a related video, listen to a brief video by youth in Utah who have heard their case for their rights to a liveable climate and future. Youth leaders are making headway in bringing our country to recognize the watershed moment when there are many things we can do now to secure the health and wellbeing of all life on Earth.