Independence Day is a good occasion to revisit E.B. White’s
description of democracy, which appeared in the July 3, 1943, issue of The New Yorker:
"Democracy…is the line that
forms on the right. It is the don’t in don’t shove. It is the hole in the
stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the
high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the
people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of pri-vacy in
the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of
vitality everywhere. Demo-cracy is a letter to the editor. Demo-cracy is the
score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved
yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad."
Democracy, when practiced and
safeguarded, helps us “make the kind of society where it is easier for people
to be good,” as Peter Maurin advocated. It is easier for people to share their
resources and skills, encourage and support each other, and protect the rights
of all humans when their voices are heard and their basic needs for sustenance,
housing, education, employment, and health care are met.
True leaders work to ensure
that the needs (not the wants) of all people are met. I have been particularly
praying for strength and wisdom of administrators during the pandemic—for our
monastic council at the Mount, for hospital and nursing home administrators,
and for state governors—as they make difficult decisions to try to keep everyone safe. Their administrative skill, although generally overlooked, is a critical gift
of the Holy Spirit that we often come to appreciate only when we suffer under
corrupt, self-serving, and inept bosses and politicians.
This Fourth of July, let us
all pray for the health of our democracy and the wisdom to choose leaders who
will help us make the kind of society where it is easier for people to be good—as
well as vibrant, tolerant, caring, and optimistic.
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