Susan Feathers

Ship of State on Rough Seas

What keeps a ship from toppling over with strong winds and rough seas? The force of gravity pulling down and the force of buoyancy acting upward.

What is the force of gravity that keep the ship of state upright? Answer: the Rule of Law and Dynamic Balance among the Branches of Government: the Lesgislature, the Executive, and the Court.

What keeps a ship from sinking? The force of bouyancy pushes upward against the force of gravity. Bouyant forces of Democracy are citizens, civic groups, local and state houses of governance; churches, educatonal institutions, the freedom of the press, and collective political and social norms conducive to a democratic nation. The ship is safe as long as dynamic balance is maintained through checks and balances and a crew that agrees on basic rules and principals in the conduct of deliberation: personal ethics, collaboration and an ephemeral quality in current culture – character.

A Rising Wave of Dissonance

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Let us never forget this.

A History of Rough Seas and Smooth Sailing

Consider then that our Ship of State is as steady in rougher waters as a dynamic balance between forces: our institutions of governance, the ballast, and the winds and rough seas our collective beliefs and actions in living out our creed.

Any student of American history can chart that course over the 248 years of our voyage. We have come close to toppling the ship of state during the Civil War, and at times when men of poor character or despotic nature rose briefly to Captain the ship. We course corrected and repaired our great vessel once more to sail together toward that perfect union.

Every adult American is responsible for this voyage, but some more than others. 2024 is proving to be another storm with dangerous forces threatening the Ship of State.

Our upcoming choice of captain and crew is an opportunity to come together to sustain the course as a free, democratic nation. Outside forces seek to overcome us. Autocratic winds blow around the globe seeking our demise.

This election will go down in history. Let’s make sure it doesn’t take the whole ship down with it.

Check out Defending Our Democracy Together.

National Constitution Center: https://constitutioncenter.org/news-debate/podcasts/can-the-constitution-serve-as-a-document-of-national-unity

Confused? Seek truth.

The National Constitution Center, a place for citizens to learn and to engage with scholars on American history and constitutional law, is a quiet sunny island in an otherwise turbulent stream of contemporary life.

Clarity and Purpose

When all of us rise to a new day only to open a fire hose of information from our phones, home stations, and television, I turn a lot of that off now. I go to the library and check out David McCullough’s 1776, a gritty and personal record of the people and places, and gestalt of colonial America and 18th Century England. What were they thinking? These are the deep roots of our Constitution. We observe our heroes and heroines just as confused as we are in times of tumult and an uncertain future. It lends some comfort as well as reflection.

RX: Attend a Town Hall at the NCC

Click here to watch the Town Hall debates on relevant topics to the state of U.S. politics and how historians and Constitutional scholars understand short comings in our three branches of governance that are not meeing the needs of today’s Americans and why Originalism can trip us up.

David McCullough brings the Road to Revolution alive!

Capitol Building Rotunda, Photo by Susan Feathers

Will Reason Prevail?

Lincoln is a figure that bulks very large in any thinking that we have about democracy, and especially in times that we live in now, times of anxiety, times of concern, fears of crisis. And at moments like this, we turn back to the figure of Abraham Lincoln, because there was a time of crisis in which he lived. And yet our democracy emerged victorious from that, in large measure because of his leadership and his wisdom. National Constitution Center, We the People podcast with historian Allen Guelzo

Readers of my blog will know that I frequently refer them to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for nonpartison perspectives and resources about our founders and founding documents. A key function of the NCC is inviting scholars from varying perspectives for a deep dive into critical issues of our body politic in which listerners and readers are referred back to key events and Americans that have kept us on the path of a living democracy. Our principle of consent by the governed is foundational to preserving democracy in our time.

In this discussion with Allen Guelzo, we return to Lincoln in the Civil War in which a nation based on laws and reason are his guiding stars.

Please share this post with friends or on social media. The discussion with Jeffrey Rosen and Allen Guelzo is relevant to our current political strife.

Common Sense: Revisited

Below is an excerpt from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense which moved British subjects in America to make the final break with the monarchy under which they had lived for centuries, but in the clarity of air on the North American continent, chose to break the tie and create a democracy that inspired the world. See The National Constitution Center, Founding Documents Library.

But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of Heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.

As the 2024 march to the Presidential election advances, we are now in the midst of a movement toward kings and subjects if the MAGA Republicans win in 2024. Let the words of our founders – who had lived for generations under a system of monarchy – to ring in our ears and remind us of what is at stake in 2024!

“I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessings On This House And All that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof.”

The words are taken from a letter written to Abigail Adams from the President’s House by Adams in 1800.

Character Matters: Let’s Examine the Facts.

The 2020 Election was fair and square.
The former president and hundreds of citizens attempted to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power – an insurrection. Deaths and injury and denegration of the Capitol building were witnessed across the country and the world.
The current MAGA rep for President is morally flawed and unfit to lead America.
President Biden and his Administration have demonstrated a commitment to the welfare of citizens and passed major legislation for the betterment of families, small businesses, and working Americans. Biden is the first among recent Presidents to form and pass comprehensive funding to support a clean energy transition with major goals to combat climate change.
The American economy under the Biden Administration, is booming and by every measure has rebounded after the Pandemic along with American businesses and families. America has the strongest economy and job growth among countries across the world.
Biden’s character is rock solid and proven over decades of leadership in the U.S. federal government. His record stands.
The world is always a very tricky and challenging arena for foreign policy. Under the leadership of Biden and Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State, NATO is robust and added democratic nations after Russia attacked Ukraine.
Our support of Ukraine’s young democracy is vital to democracy across the world and our own democracy. We need to gain back the bravery and national cohesion that the Ukarinian citizens are showing every day of this war.
Finally, America has always been an ally of Israel.
Biden is both honest and wise. Age is little import given what we are up against. Our country is focused on age but would we be better off to invoke John Adam’s blessing that only honest and wise men (and women) inhabit the White House?

Third party candidates and sitting out on your vote will destroy our democracy.

Every vote for the Democratic ticket is needed now to prevent an autocracy and Christian Nationalist government from forning in our Republic. We must come together on that blue ticket as never before; many of you are lifetime Republicans, many of you are inflamed over the murder and injury to innocent Gazans (as we should be). Together we must get past this real threat from MAGA which is clearly and openly telling us they intend to destroy the democracy we have maintained together for nearly 250 years. They tell us openly they intend to install a Christian Nationalist government. Women are one of their targets. After losing the right to choose, families now face the real threat that contraceptives will be imperiled making family planning impossible. I still cannot believe this is happening in the America I know and love.

Think about what’s at stake. See what you can do.

The Children of Gaza

600,000 children have no education.

This morning on National Public Radio Morning Edition, Ricardo Pires from UNICEF described the collapse of the education system in Gaza. Here is the whole segment.

No matter your thoughts about what must be done in Gaza or how the Israeli govenment must act in defending itself against the horrendous attack by HAMAS, the children’s needs are immediate and cannot wait. Food, medical care, safety — these are priorities. But, the fact that there are no longer school buildings for education, and there is no longer a safe place to learn — not even to be sent to neighboring countries due to walls that prevent them from going anywhere — further traumatizes children. Education is their future and their solace when the world they knew is shattered. How many of us have been saved emotionally and physically through education in which we keep building skills, understanding, and resilience? Even with chaos around us, if we can keep learning with our peers, we can sustain hope.

Are we now to tolerate the loss of a future for Gaza’s children?

This morning I wrote my own government about creating educational games and stories that could be included in aide packages along with food and medical supplies. It seems so little, even an afterthought, in light of how opposition to the Israeli Army’s ongoing assault must grow among us. It may even be happening as I know that UNICEF and SAVE THE CHILDREN consider education a key part of protecting children from trauma and mental stress.

All the oxygen sucked from the American public’s attention by the presumptive candidate for MAGA Repubicans and his sorry life and character are not an excuse to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Gaza.

University and high school students who grieve lawfully on behalf of Gazans are on the right path. We all must join them in a collective call to end the war.

Contact your reps in Congress! Contact your Senators.

Donate to UNICEF

Donate to the UN Food Program

5 Ways Children are Impacted by the Gaza Israel Conflict

Riding on this election?

Nothing less than our survival.

Aldo Leopold Shack and Restored Prairie. Photo by Susan Feathers

The rights of individuals as written in the U.S. Constitution and a system of secular governance and freedom of religion are the principles at the heart of the American Republic.

Our European ancestors and writers of the Constitution had all lived under the tyranny of kings and queens and the Church, often in cahoots with an authoritarian government.

The Constitution was written to free individuals from those bonds to determine their own lives within a system of laws and justice. Protestant or Catholic, Jew or Muslim, atheist or agnostic, Calvanist or Puritan, Amish or Mennonite, and so on… each with the freedom to pursue their religious lives. The Bill of Rights freed citizens to determine for themselves how to live their lives. As long as a citizen’s choices did not infringe on another’s, they were free to pursue ideas and courses of action to develop happiness and meaning. Actions, property, social norms were subject to laws that protect individuals’ freedoms.

This is what is unique about American governance: at its core is the belief that all persons are created equal.

At the heart of the MAGA Republican movement is the rejection of this principle. All men are not equal and, America should be a Christian country.

UNDERSTAND THAT THE INTENT OF THE MAGA REPUBLICANS IS TO END THE FORM OF GOVERNANCE ESTABLISHED IN THE CONSTITUTION.

What are the actions promised by the candidate they support:

End all restrictions on oil and gas development;
Slash and Burn the institutions of the Republic and replace them with an authoriarian governing system;
Further suppress women’s reproductive rights including birth control;
Rid the government of environmental and climate change experts, departments and regulations associated with them. We are free to kill ourselves, our families, fellow human, plant and animal lives on planet Earth.
Support authoritarian leaders and governments. Putin and Russia, Kim Jong Un and North Korea; Viktor Orbán and Hungary; Xi Jingping and China. All enemies of democracy.

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? THIS IS NOT A NORMAL ELECTION. THIS IS ABOUT THE LOSS OF OUR DEMOCRACY AND OUR WAY OF LIFE!

Listen to historian Heather Cox Richardson and historian Jeffrey Rosen interviewed by Ken Burns. Richardson published Democracy Awakening and Jeff Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness this year. They remind us what democracy is and how we always agreed about these principles among our political parties. We debated how those principles should be carried out and protected, generation after generation. This was the American Project. Now, one party intends to destroy these governing principle for an autocracy.

New Orleans Book Festival

Do Not Be Distracted

“I see a safe journey, I see a safe return.” ~ Kundun, 1997, about the 14th Dalai Lama. A Martin Scorsese film.

“Do not be distracted,” a Buddhist master says to the young Dalai Lama as he comes into the enlightenment. Well, friends and neighbors, I say this to the American public when discernment of the truth is critical among America’s voting public. We ARE the ones standing and acting at a dangerous turning point where how we vote, who we vote for will determine whether America holds together, as it was intended to be – a country of mutually crafted laws and norms, the rule of law and freedom to participate in governance and a free exchange of ideas.

Gnawing at the gates of Freedom are wolves, artful dodgers, hoodwinkers, and cowards. Don’t let them in!

“If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, its probably is a duck.”

National Consitution Center in Philadelphia is a treasure trove of discussions that can help us stay clear on what our Founders established and how we strive to perfect and interpret it through each generation of Americans. Check it out!

Left, Right and Center podcast.

Think for yourself.

Readers: what other sources of balanced, fact based sources do you recommend? Leave the link to them in the comment function. Thanks!

Extreme Heat: How to Measure Health Risk

The chart below shows the relative humidity and temperature and how they interplay to create lethal conditions such as heat stroke and death. See the second chart below which is in Celsius for recommendations to protect yourself.

National Weather Service health guidelines for extreme heat: https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat

Below is a similar chart in Celsius temperature readings. Scroll to the second page. SEE RECOMMENDED ACTIONS LISTED BY WET BULB TEMPERATURE.

celcius-heat-index-information Download

Independent Bookstores

Each independent bookstore is an important cog in democracies. Diverse voices, original works as they emerge, community engagement through book clubs and public programs, and a platform for emerging writers are all important aspects of locally owned, independent bookstores. I consider them the seat of what we once knew as town halls where people gathered to discusss our democracy.

Parnassus Books in Nashville was founded by two women, a beloved author, Ann Patchett, and Karen Hayes, a career professional in publishing and business partner, are good friends and savvy business women. Sign up for their weekly review of new titles and enjoy the kitchen/hearth warmth of women who love books. Join a book guild! Attend an author interview.

Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, founded by Louise Erdrich and partners, is a literary vortex for Indigenous writers and artists. Compared to William Faulker, Erdrich has published dozens of books and poetry that have received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize among others. She promotes emerging writers in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction works. Louise was raised by an Ojibwe mother and German father who nutured her writing with stories from these streams of cultural influence. I live by the release of each new work by Louise. She just announced the latest novel: The Mighty Red.

The Lynx, a bookstore founded by Lauren Groff and her husband in Gainesville, Florida, is purposed to protect diverse voices (banned books in Florida and the nation). They open tomorrow – April 28, 2024. Expect it to be a vulcrum for diverse voices and excellent books in all genres. Lauren’s books have received national recognition and numerous awards. She illustrates the essential role writers play in freedom of thought and deeper examination of the values that underly our personal and political lives. The Vaster Wilds is her most recent novel. I read both print and audio. I recommend you read it in that order. It contains a profound message to Western culture regarding our future on Earth.

What are your favorite independent bookstores? Please comment on this post and give readers a link if you can. Also, tell us what you like about the local independent bookstore and why you think they are important in our culture.

A Good Book — Books I read that informed Threshold.