• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. democratic values>

An election at the intersection of power and democratic values

Debilyn Molineaux
https://www.facebook.com/debilynm/
https://twitter.com/debilynm?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/debilynmolineaux/
October 01, 2020
American flags
Dorann Weber/Getty Images

Molineaux is president of the Bridge Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 civic engagement and democracy reform groups. (Disclosure: The Bridge Alliance Education Fund is a funder of The Fulcrum.)



In this dark year, I am carrying hope for our nation.

While many of my friends — across the political spectrum and in varying corners of our current politics — agitate, calculate, dominate and become irate, I claim kinship with them all. I see our broken hearts, our disappointment, our pain and suffering. I see our pride, our gumption and innovation. I share our collective feeling of anxiety mixed with dread for what may be next. And still, I carry hope.

We are a raucous American family. While we talk about divorce in terms of civil unrest and civil war, like a good marriage counselor I am asking: What are we fighting for? And what are we protecting against?

I carry the hope for our nation by advocating in favor of so many of our democratic values. That we citizens are bound to one another. And that no one is above the law. That our elected officials are public servants. And that the public should be protected by a system of checks and balances that prevents the unmitigated pursuit of power for its own sake. That power in the United States government must always be in service to the people. And that goes for all the people, not a privileged few. Finally, our bond grows stronger as a nation when we trust one another and share mutual association.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

I carry the hope for our nation along with all those others working to protect against the forces of division — and to protect against the intolerance of those who wish to memorialize their power and advantage over others. I work to protect against rigidity of thought that obstructs, and against advancement so rapid we lose our tradition and sense of American identity. (These are the failures globally that did not allow us to prevent the Second World War.)

The Constitution was a reaction to the tyranny of and absolute power granted to a single man. The framers wanted power for themselves, separate from King George III. This is fact, as is their dismissal of non-white people and women as subservient — and enslaved to the framers' expression of liberty. They were the underdogs in a power-hungry world. The David against the Goliath of English colonization.

Despots hold absolute power. It is a term reserved for those who exercise their power in a cruel or oppressive way. Today we face the possibility of a despotic ruler in the United States for the first time in our lives and perhaps the first time in American history.

For a nation that has promised "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," we have fallen short and that is the source of our agitation, cogitation and irritation. It is also the source of our broken hearts, ruptured relationships and disappointment in our chance at a better life.

Freedom is the promise of our now-amended Constitution to every person. And freedom is now experienced by more people around the world than at any time in history. As humans, we long for freedom but freedom comes with a price tag. We have to protect it, tolerate others and compromise to avoid the sort of despotic rule that provides privilege to some while punishing others.

If we look to a leader in the United States to punish others, we have already lost freedom. And as history proves, despots will grab the power -- without any intention of its return to the people. If you have given your support to a leader who states that opponents are enemies and should be punished, you have given your power away by no longer supporting democratic values. You have chosen a leader who prioritizes power over democracy.

I carry the hope for our nation by remaining a free person, open-hearted and open-minded about our collective future. Will you join me?

From Your Site Articles
  • Three steps to an inclusive democracy - The Fulcrum ›
  • A bipartisan appeal for safe, easy voting in North Carolina - The ... ›
  • Presidential debate creates new low-point for democracy - The ... ›
  • Germany offers example of government-backed civic education ... ›
  • New survey finds opportunity to unite Americans on values - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Core Democratic Values Defined ›
  • Democratic Values and the American Constitution Society ›
  • Forget Norms. Our Democracy Depends On Values. | FiveThirtyEight ›
  • Democratic Values — Liberty, Equality, Justice [ushistory.org] ›
democratic values

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Joan Blades
John Gable
8h

What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

Daniel O. Jamison
8h

Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

J.H. Snider
30 January

Winning GOP strategy in 2024 – back to business with immigration reform

Neil Hare
30 January

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
27 January
Videos

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff

Video: We need more bipartisan commitment to democracy: Pennsylvania governor

Our Staff

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff

Video: Veterans for Political Innovation - Who we are

Our Staff

Video: Want to fight polarization? Take a vacation!

Our Staff

Video: Kevin McCarthy is Speaker, but he's got a tough job ahead

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
27 January

Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Our Staff
26 January

Podcast: Why we misunderstand independent voters

Our Staff
25 January
Recommended
Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Big Picture
What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

Big Picture
Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Congress
Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

State
Winning GOP strategy in 2024 – back to business with immigration reform

Winning GOP strategy in 2024 – back to business with immigration reform

Big Picture
Podcast: Separating news from noise

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Podcasts