Democracy

Artwork from Amplifer art — Defend Truth, by Sheperd Farley

No blog post until August, September (ha, wrong month on the first writing). I’m taking a short end of summer break from writing.

I’m in full summer reading mode. It’s been glorious exploring a wide range of books – many chosen without a lot of thought. Several of the books and a few articles dealt with democracy, citizenship (not in the legal sense), and love for community. One of the unifying themes is America is imperfect, but even in that beautiful imperfection worth defending.  

“All of us as vital as the one light we move through”

That line comes from Richard Blanco’s inaugural poem One Today, which he wrote and read during President Obama’s inauguration. As a Cuban Latino, gay man, he wrote about everyday America and the people in it. In his book How to Love a Country, where he shares how he wrote the One Today poem, he wrote “I had come to think of the poem as a mirror… the mirror catching a reflection of his or her own life blurred with the poet’s life.” He hit on one of the central themes of how to make democracy alive. Democracy requires us to reflect on our own lives, but also to blur our lives with others. The blurring means we are in spaces with other people, preferably people who are different than us so we can grow our civic capacity and tolerance for differences.

Defend Institutions

In the book On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (white male author – every once in a while I read white dude authors) he argues we need to defend our institutions. Defending institutions means defending them for the diversity in America. When we allow our institutions become the tools of the elite few and to serve just their purposes, we are allowing public institutions to practice a form of colonization.

Some may say that allowing institutions to practice ‘wokeism’ or to work to expand protection to protected classes (e.g. LGBTQ, veterans, etc.) is exclusionary. It isn’t. It is a way of saying these institutions belong to all of us, if we don’t name it and explicitly practice inclusion the institution will default to at a minimum othering behavior or outright exclusion. We need to push public institutions to do what they were created for – serve people, inclusive of the diversity of our communities.

It is easy to see how many of our institutions are losing this purpose of serving people first. Book bans at libraries, abortion bans mean medical institutions can no longer perform reproductive care for women, calling media fake news, and so on. These small erosions of what makes our institutions legitimate and ‘of the people’ leads to privatization, which leads to ess public accountability, stratification of services (the elites who can afford to buy their way in/out versus everyone else), and overall less trust in government and what it stands for.

Vote

The 2024 general election is coming up soon, 80-something days away. Defend your right to vote by voting. Help someone else vote, and if they can’t then encourage them to defend the democracy they partake in, in some way.

Here are a few practical ways to engage:

  • Read the news – read diverse print media about the election.
  • Defend an institution by asking questions and forcing people to answer – be polite and kind, but ask the questions.
  • Register to vote, and/or help someone register to vote
  • If you’re already registered, have a plan to vote – how will you get to the polling station, how will you deliver your ballot, etc.
  • Talk to someone else about democracy and how you’re participating in it. As an example earlier this week I was talking to a colleague about boards I had served on and mentioned the Washington State Budget & Policy Center. He hadn’t heard of it so I said, “They do tax policy, it’s the best!” he joked back “Got it. Erin – taxes!” We then talked about how fun it is to nerd out about tax policy.

Books and Articles to read

Thank you to our Patreon subscribers. At this time I don’t offer ‘extras’ or bonuses for Patreons. I blog after working a full-time job, volunteer and family commitments thus it is hard to find time to create more content. Whatever level you are comfortable giving pays for back-end costs, research costs, supporting other POC efforts, etc. If your financial situation changes please make this one of the first things you turn-off — you can still access the same content and when/if you can re-subscribe I’ll appreciate it.

Adrienne, Aimie, Alayna, Alessandra, Alexa, Aline, Alison FP, Alison P, Allison, Amanda, Amber, Amira, Amy, Amy K, Amy P, Amy R, Andie, Andrea J, Andrea JB, Andy, Angelica, Ashlie, Ashlie B., Barb, Barbara, Barrett, Beth, Betsy, Big Duck, Brad, Brenda, Bridget, Brooke B, Brooke DW, Cadence, Caitlin, Calandra, Callista, Cari, Carmen, Carolyn, Carrie B, Carrie C, Carrie S, Catherine, Cathy & David, Chelsea, Christina C, Clara, Clark, Clark G., Courtney, Dan, dana, Danielle, Danya, Debbie, Debbie S., Dede, DeEtta, Denyse, Dennis, Dennis F, Diane, Don, Ed, Edith, Eileen, Elizabeth, Emily, Erica J, Erin, Frances, Gene, Genita, Hannah, Hayden, Heidi and Laura, Heidi, Hilary, J Elizabeth, Jaime, Jake, James, Jane, Janet, Jelena, Jen C, Jen E, Jen H, Jena, Jenn, Jennet, Jennifer, Jess, Jessica F, Jessica G, Jillian, John, Jon, Julia, Juliet, June, Karen, Kate, Kathryn, Katie O, Kawai, Kelly, Kiki, Kimberly, Kyla, LA Progressive, Laura, Lauren, Leslie, Linda M, Lisa C, Lisa P-W, Lisa S, Liz, Lola, Lori, Lyn, Maegan, Maggie, Maile, Maki, Marc, Mareeha, Marilee, Matthew, Maura, Melissa, Melody, Michael, Mickey, Migee, Mike, Mindy, Misha, Molly, Nat, Nicole, paola, Peggy, PMM, Porsche, Rachel, Raquel, Rebecca, Robin, Ryan, Sally, Sally P., Sandra, Sarah B, Sarah D, Sarah H, Sarah KB, Sarah R, Sarah S, Sarita, Selma, Sharon B, Sharon Y, Shaun, Shawna, Siobhan, Steph, Stephanie, Stephanie J-T, Steve, Su, Sue, Sue C D, T Wang, Tamara, Tania DSA, Tania TD, Tara, tash, Teddi, Tim, Tracy TG, Venu, virginia, Vivian, Wan-Lin, Ward, Wendy, and Zan

Thank you for subscribing. Please check fakequity.com for the most up-to-date version of the post. I often make grammatical and stylistic corrections after the first publishing which shows up in your inbox. To subscribe — on the right sidebar (desktop version) is a subscribe box. To see what I’m reading and recommended books check out the Fakequity Bookshop. I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org where your purchases support local bookstores. I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. The commission goes into purchasing books by POC authors or about disabilities to donate to high-poverty public schools.