By Tim Wood
In the August 17 edition of The Island News, Lolita Huckaby was reporting on the hoopla about the scheduled Gay Pride event in Port Royal. With an inferred sigh she wrote, ”but Port Royal, indeed the country, is still a democracy with freedom to speak one’s opinion.”
In response, in the August 23 edition of The Island News, Brad Wolff’s letter responded to this single line with what, a 1-2-3 punch? (He covered a lot of ground in his letter).
Firstly, he says, “I support procreation (between a natural man and natural woman) and keeping it private.” I agreed with that.
Then, secondly, he states how (back in the day), Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been “propagating that our government is a democracy.” OK, I guess; I probably would have said “advocating” instead of “propagating” because propagate infers propaganda. But whatever.
Then comes Brad’s knock out punch. He points as out that the U.S. is a republic not a democracy. I”m not quite sure how he linked procreation in his head with the republic. He continued, “Plainly put, a democracy is mob-rule.”
Wow. I had never heard someone say that before. I guess a dictator or communist China (another Republic) might feel that way. Brad even made reference linking democracy to lynch mobs (mob rule?). I thought, like the KKK? Were they democratic?
I ended up thinking a lot about Lolita’s views and Brad’s views. In the most simple of forms, a republic is ruled by elected representatives, a democracy is a majority rule society. I’m 73 and a proud U.S. citizen. I truly believe that all through my education in this country, I was brainwashed into accepting and then believing in majority rule. My teachers and my friends were always asking for a show of hands … majority wins! And isn’t this what our country has matured into?
When you study history you’ll find that our worst governments usually resided with presidents that were put in office without the majority vote. I mean across the board. That this is possible at all is because of gerrymandering and the electoral college – gaming the system. Because I’m a progressive, I’ve always hated those loop holes. I also advocate for strict term limits … but getting back to Brad and Lolita.
The truth is that the U.S. is both a republic and a democracy (in principle). The relatively old white men that wrote our constitution for the republic had a leadership of privileged white men that voted for their leadership based on the majority vote, and it’s important to note a majority of privileged white men that were the only ones that could vote. They probably didn’t even think about term limits and it’s amazing to me (that here in 2023) the country’s most influential (sometimes damning) leaders are old, privileged white men.
I only hope and pray that every single person younger than 50 that can legally vote will do so in 2024. More importantly, I hope and pray that this country gets back to a true majority rule and that those who don’t want a democratic republic perhaps consider moving, to say, Hungary. Like, now.
How this country has gotten into the pluff-mud of people’s sexuality, book banning and controlling what a natural woman chooses to do with her body (her life!) is beyond me. I admit at times I desire a return to the silent minority. But, of course, I think better of it as a proud defender of free speech as, I’m sure, Lolita is.
The truly dangerous practices in the present U.S. are the unprecedented acceptance and leniency in regards to lying and disinformation. This acceptance will become even more immoral and ludicrous with the advent of AI. It is just like all things in life; evil may always harm the good. We just cannot allow the evil to rule and control our lives. If we cave in to believing lies and disinformation, we will surely see an even more rapid social and cultural decline.
This thought process brought me finally to (our) The Pledge of Allegiance, written in 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy. The original: “I pledge my allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In 1923, the words “the flag of the United States of America” were added. In 1954 the words “under God” were added to create the 31-word pledge most say today. There have been legal challenges to both the added “under God” and to making school children even say the “pledge” in the first place.
Let the Bill of Rights work that out in our future. I’m OK with how it is and I don’t even mind our kids learning and having to say it. It’s right up there with the “Star Spangled Banner” at the ballgame. I would, however, like the last part of the last line to read “with liberty, truth and justice for us all”. Hopefully Lolita and Brad would both agree.
Tim and Kristy Wood moved to Beaufort in 1974. He worked as a carpenter in both restoration and new home construction, as well as operating a shop specializing in custom woodwork, Wood on Wood Specs. He is semi-retired, involved with fine woodworking and formerly sat on the City of Beaufort Zoning Board of Appeals.
