Democracy Quotes for Monday

 I couldn't just pick three quotes for Monday's class. Looking back on our semester, we have read and researched so much about democracy that I had forgot some of the authors and texts that we studied! Here are my favorite 7 that I have found thus far;  I will elaborate with my own thoughts on three of them. 
1."Of course, a multitude of persons are to be found who entertain the same number of ideas on religion, history, science, political economy, legislation, and government.  The gifts of intellect proceed directly from God, and man cannot prevent their unequal distribution.  But it is at least a consequence of what we have just said, that although the capacities of men are different, as the Creator intended they should be, Americans find the means of putting them to use are equal" (55).  Alexis De Tocqueville's Democracy in America
        These different gifts we are given allow us to each learn how to live among those we do not always agree with. Americans find the means of putting their different gifts together to live peaceably in a society.  Furthermore, I think that having different gifts and views is key in a democracy, because without opposing or different views, there would be no basis on which to build a lot of our social capital.  If everyone had the same gifts, the world would be a very different place. 
 2.  "And like other American Dreams, the power of this one lay in a sense of collective ownership: anyone can get ahead.  An assertion of universal enfranchisement is routinely reaffirmed by this dream's boosters...Occasionally, it has been roundly condemned as an opiate of the people..."  -- Cullen
              Democracy provides the opportunity or people to get ahead of others. Without democracy, people wouldn't strive for the best, strive for what they want, or strive to get their opinion heard.  The collective ownership that we have to succeed in America has made our democracy flourish; people know that they can get ahead, especially if they join with others (voluntary associations) to make it happen. 

3. "...In democracies there is always a multitude of persons whose wants are above their means, and who are very willing to take up imperfect satisfaction, rather than abandon the object of their desires altogether"

--Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America

             Democracy demands that compromises are made.  Maybe not compromises between different people's opposing opinions, but compromises between people to live peaceably together.  This means that people are willing to not always get what they want, because they understand that democracy is a give and take kind of process. 

 4. "The first is to get people within a given institution talking with each other about their concerns.  In the case of a church this would mean hundreds of individual conversations and small gatherings -- called 'one-on-ones' and 'house meetings,' respectively -- among church members.  The second objective is to identify and cultivate leaders from within.  These leaders represent their institutions in the citizens' organization and in the broader forum of public discussion" (2).  -- Stout

 5."One way of defining democracy would be to call it a political system in which people actively attend to what is significant" (273).  -- Robert Bellah

6. "There is no such thing as the 'perfect form of government' on earth, but any other form of government produces even less desirable results than democracy.  Until today, no other form of government has been invented that could regulate public affairs better than democracy" -- Sir Winston Churchill.
7.  Lincoln on the last page of Cullen's chapter 3:  "Let us hope, rather, that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social, and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away" (102).   

Terrorism has Caused America to Change

From The Economist's article "The Long Road Home":

"A new generation is coming of age with little memory of the more open and trusting America of ten years ago. The new America keeps looking over its shoulder. It is permanently vigilant and relentlessly intrusive. Few people complain about the security-inspired hassles that have infected everyday activities, from boarding an airliner to applying for some required government document. Safety first is, understandably, the order of the day in a world in which killers hide bombs in their shoes and underpants. But the cumulative result of all these precautions is a wretched thing. A culture of suspicion, and its accompanying bureaucracy, take away trust in your fellow man. A less tolerant America, whose prosperity was built on openness to the world, has shut down its borders and locked out many of the skilled and eager immigrants whose help it could dearly use."

          Out of the entire article, this is the part that made me think the most critically; I hadn't really stopped to understand the extent to which America believes the world is a scarier place than it once was (which it is).  I guess I just took it as part of growing up; that even though I learned more as I grew up, the terrorists and other evil things in the world have always been present.  Which, they have to an extent.  It strikes me as almost a tragedy the way that our nation cannot really trust other nations; and even more close-to-home: our fellow Americans cannot trust each other.  

         Take Black Elk for example:  He belonged to a tribe, and his tribe had allies.  They all trusted each other and were comfortable with one another.  They all had the same enemies, and they were all about helping each other out.  What if we called our American nation a tribe?  That we, as the American tribe, have our allies, but yet we don't trust them like the Native Americans trusted their allies.  We don't have all of the same enemies as our allies, and neither do we always make mutual efforts to help each other out.  It is interesting to consider the ways in which our nation has changed; the ways in which our trust has been built up and torn down over and over again, and the ways in which our efforts with our allies have evolved over the decades. 

Happiness

"The Six Grandfathers have placed in this world many things, all of which should be happy.  Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy.  Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World" (153). 

        Imagine if the world actually worked like this: every part of nature, every person, every thing in the world was able to bring someone happiness.  That power alone could change the world so much.  If I stop to really appreciate the weather, I realize how happy sunshine, rainstorms, and even nature (flowers, trees) make me!  "Every little thing is sent for something"...wouldn't it be wonderful to know the purpose of everything?  It's obvious that we will never fully be able to know why certain things are sent to us -- plus this can be a controversial topic depending on religion.  But we are able to know that there is a power within us to make something out of each little thing we receive. 

        Abraham Lincoln is noted with saying, "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."  Ever since I first heard this quote during my junior year of high school, it has become a saying that I live by.  I consider it to be of the utmost importance to make the choice to be happy; make the choice to overcome sorrows and displeasure with current life situations, and to see even the smallest aspect of good in everything that comes our way.  

        I guess that even Black Elk's tribe got it right -- happiness is in the core of a good life.  The idea of being a happy person and spreading happiness to others can be powerful, and I find it comforting to know that this idea resonates between cultures and over time, such as between the Native Americans and our society today. 

Paying Attention To What You Read

       I get the daily "Inspirational Quote" texted to me on my blackberry every morning; it's there when I wake up!  This one was sent to me today, and it immediately made me think of Bellah's "Paying Attention":


"Reading is important — read between the lines. Don't swallow everything." – Gwendolyn Brooks


        Besides just applying this to the idea that "paying attention" to what's important, I also thought of applying it to the news media (referencing what Dan Rather spoke about here!).  We've seen and read all these conflicting articles about what actually happened when the CIA conducted the raid that ended in Bin Laden's killing.  First we heard that he used a woman (supposedly his wife) as a shield, and was armed.  Then we heard that he wasn't armed, and that a woman was killed because she "rushed forward." What are we to believe?  We can't "swallow everything" that we read.  I think that it is important to recognize that time is a factor in all of this Bin Laden news, and that the longer we wait, the more of a concrete story we will receive.
       I also realize this quote can be applied to Black Elk Speaks!  Neihardt adds so many of his own sentences and ideas to this book.  We get different stories from different Native Americans.  The reason we know this is because there are these side notes that tell us that "such-and-such section was added by Neihardt" or "Black Elk actually said this....".  These sides notes help us read between the lines!  And, we are reminded that we can't "swallow everything" that Neihardt writes because, of course, it is a translation; many things can get lost in a translation!  This quote really helped remind me not to read everything that I read as truth;  that I should constantly be using my critical thinking skills to read between the lines in order to search for the truth. 

Imagining the World Without the Dollar

                According to the article, "Imagining the World Without the Dollar" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/imagining-a-world-without-the-dollar/2011/04/26/AFjawKEF_story.html),  there may eventually no longer be a paperback dollar. Instead, we would have electronic currency.  Weird to fathom?  I'd say so.
               "Economists are debating the end of the era of the dollar, while news organizations paint it as a 98-pound weakling. Our so-called “fiat” currency, backed only by the full faith and credit of the government, no longer commands respect. "  If the era of the dollar ends, how would we go about buying things and doing our normal daily affairs?  Well, life would become one big swap meet, aka bartering.  We'd trade carrots for cell phones,  cows for couches.  The problem with this is that we need the coincidence of wants, which very rarely works out. Hence, we are reminded that our currency is convenient because it is a medium of exchange and a store of value.  Sounds like we don't really want to go back to bartering (with the problem of coincidence of wants), but we still have these banks. What do we do?
          The author of this article writes, "More generally, it is tempting to imagine technology filling this void. In a world without dollars, every ambitious Internet company would build a platform for transactions, featuring an electronic currency in which prices were expressed, payments made and receipts accumulated. It’s no stretch to imagine the Facebook credits now used to purchase items in games evolving into a more widely used electronic currency (perhaps nicknamed “Facebacks”)."
Tempting, yes.  But now regulating the supply of money would be an issue.  With the dollar, we have the Fed to regulate the money supply, inspect banks, and make sure everything is working as it is supposed to in this money-driven world. 
         So, I guess, neither of our other two options are really optimal. We either have the problem of the coincidence of wants with bartering, or we have the problem of regulating money supply with electronic money.  So, it seems as though we shall stick with the paperback dollar for now.   As the author writes to end his article, "When I think about our current monetary arrangements, I am inclined to paraphrase Winston Churchill on democracy: Ours is the worst possible system, except for all the others." 

Here we are 10 years later...

        Well, here we are 10 years later, celebrating the justice served to a man who deeply hurt our country.  I am proud and thankful to everyone who was involved in the process of finding Bin Laden, because I think it gives closure to many Americans, especially those who lost loved ones in 9/11. 
        There is reason to celebrate because we have gone one step further in our war on terror, and this was a great feat.  However, part of myself can't help thinking that there is something a little wrong with rejoicing over another human being's death, no matter how evil he was.  This was one of my friend's facebook status (they were quoting one of their family members):  

"'I keep thinking of how awful it was to hear that there were people actually celebrating 9/11. Now I turn on the TV and see the same thing.' -quote from family member of man who died in WTC"

And here was a facebook status of a different friend of mine:  

"It is a shame that the greatest joy that can come to the people of my country is the death of another human being. Until this changes, nothing has been resolved."

        These quotes by my friends really say it all for me.  I find myself being torn between being happy that this 9/11 conflict finally has closure 10 years after the fact, and between being concerned that my country is celebrating the death of another human being.  Quotes such as these, that say Americans are rejoicing in another's death means nothing has been resolved...is that what terrorism and war have brought on our country?  Wanting death to happen to others?  I realize that this can be a stretch...I am really just letting my thoughts roll. And I don't really have an answer for the questions I ask myself about how I feel about Bin Laden's death...but I do know that I am torn between rejoicing and being concerned.  I guess I'd have to agree with my friend -- Yes, this is a milestone for our country, but nothing has been resolved if we can rejoice over the death of another human being.