5 days Ago
The presidential election represents a temporary decision point in an unfolding crisis in American democracy. The will of the American people is hard to understand at any one point. When the Colonial Congress declared independence from England in 1776 there was not a clear majority of people who thought it a good idea.
Only a third of the colonists supported independence, one-third thought the current situation was OK, and one-third were ambivalent. A day after Congress voted for independence, British Gen. William Howe landed 9,300 troops on Staten Island.
Nine days later, a fleet caring another 11,000 troops arrived off the coast of New York City. By mid-August the British had amassed more than 30,000 troops. George Washington’s volunteer army at its peak was 20,000.
By December, after staggering losses and desertions, Washington had 3,500 troops at Valley Forge. ("The Founding Fathers on Leadership," Donald Phillips pages 85-88) Thomas Paine read to them his essay entitled “The American Crisis." It began, “These are the times that try men’s souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” The colonies became the United States of America.
The southern states who enslaved African people felt their way of life threatened by the movement in northern states to abolish slavery. They voted to secede from the United States and formed their own government. This crisis was a threat to the existence of the nation.
Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from this earth.” This experiment in democracy didn’t perish, and those states who rebelled now vote for president. In another American crisis, many Americans denied the threat of Nazi Germany.
This denial was well-funded by foreign propagandists who promoted American isolationism. President Franklin Roosevelt warned of the dangers of isolationism in his State of the Union speech in 1941. “In times like these it is immature-and incidentally, untrue -- for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed, and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world.
No realistic American can expect from a dictator’s peace, international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression or freedom of religion -- or even good business." Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor ended the isolation argument. America joined allies in defeating fascism and liberating the concentration camps.
Millions of innocent people were murdered before Hitler was stopped. The United States help rebuild Europe. The current crisis is a divided America.
Many Americans believe President-elect Donald Trump, who says the United States government is conspiring against him. He claims his criminal convictions and criminal charges are purely political. Vice President Kamala Harris and her many followers believe Trump intended to stop the certification of the vote for Biden in the 2020 election by inspiring a mob to storm the Capitol.
They can’t both be right. This divide hardened in November’s election. Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor and the Jan.
6 insurrection were threats to the very existence of American democracy. The American soul is again on trial. Who are those that will stand it now? Bill Patrie has been recognized for his work as a cooperative developer by the National Farmers Union, the Association of Cooperative Educators and the National Cooperative Business Association.
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