Democracy

It's coming to America First,

The cradle of the best and the worst,

It's here they got the range,

and the machinery for change,

And it's here they got the spiritual thirst.

And it's here the family's broken,

And it's here the lonely say,

That the heart has got to open in a fundamental way.

Democracy is coming, to the USA.

-Leonard Cohen, Democracy

Another weekend down, another round of protests by the gladiators and sneering from Caesar.  I can't help but notice we are being played by the artful dodger, distracting us with bread and circuses while we slip further into chaos. The founding father's of this country of ours had some very real wisdom when it came to the virtues and limits of democracy. Ben Franklin could go out into the streets of Philadelphia and see the grungy dock workers and the rabble whose daily routine was essentially focused on working enough to afford to be able to drink themselves into a stupor.  Thomas Jefferson could see the slaves and the poor white laborers whose desperation needed to be stemmed by law and by force of arms.  The men who wrote our Constitution were admirable in many regards, but they were far from diverse, they were all wealthy, landowning white men, and as such they structured this new republic in such a way as it would benefit wealthy, landowning white men.  They interspersed this legal code with enough high minded ideals to make it stand out from the crowd as a remarkable and useful benchmark in the progress of humanity.  These ideals were not simply window dressing either, in their better moments, and when it did not conflict with their self interest, they really believed in things like freedom and equality.

They had had enough of royalty and aristocracy, they felt the sting of being viewed as "common" by the Lords and Ladies of Europe, but they eventually realized (particularly in Franklin's later years) that money was a key to class Nobility.  As Kevin Spacey's character in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil says, "Nouveau riche, yes, but after all, it's the riche that matters." And the history of this country has been moved by the god mammon as much as the God in whom we trust.  In fact, I often wonder if perhaps we don't get the two inextricably confused.  As you might know, from my past musings on this subject, idolatry is a persistent vexation for me when it comes to things like the flag, the national Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance (the last of which I refuse to recite as an adult).  I stand for the national anthem and honor the flag out of respect for those, including my Grandfather, several Uncles and a great Aunt who all served their country in times of war and peace, but I also hold James Baldwin's thoughts on this matter dear to my heart:

I love America more than any other country in this world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

Our current division is rooted in the darker angels of our nature.  The wealthy landowning classes have always held onto the knowledge that racial divisions and division in general is necessary for their continued advantage.  I notice that most of those who are critical of the NFL kneelers, and of Black Lives Matter, and of protest about racial injustice in general are rich white men: this weekend it was Mike Pence joining the gang, showing up to the Colts game and then walking out because of several players kneeling for the anthem.  Jerry Jones (aka Skeletor) threatened to bench any of his players who knelt for the anthem, which gave me a giddy moment as I envisioned all of his black players calling his bluff, Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliot, Dez Bryant, all kneeling and being held out of the game while Jason Witten and Cole Beasely tried to take the field by themselves.
Not going to happen, I know, but if they could try that the week they play the Iggles, that would be awesome.
Anyway, this anthem protest doesn't seem to be going away and I get the feeling that the ruling class is okay with that, because they have figured out, as they usually do, how to use it to their advantage.  They persistently say it is about honoring the military, and they have enough weight of truth on their side to make it so.  Even though none of the protesters have said it was about the military, or the flag, or our country, and pretty much to a man have said it is about the injustice experience by black folks in this country.  I want you to notice how slick "the Man" can be.  The Trump, Mike Pence and Jerry Jones of the world don't want Joe Football Fan to identify the plight of black folks with his own struggles.  They want Joe Football Fan to think they are on his side.  They want JFF to think that these black men kneeling for the anthem is just a petulant act by a bunch of privileged rich athletes.  If they can direct the anger of the common man at some black millionaires it isn't coming in the direction of the white billionaires.  Clever.
Using the military as a tool in this deflection is super clever, Bond Villain level insidious.  Who are the military?  Mostly the children of middle class and lower, a lot of black kids and hispanic kids and poor white kids who see service to their country not just as an abstract duty, but as a genuine leg up out of the dead end of poverty (which it often is).  It has been observed that perhaps one of the most important pre-cursors to the civil rights movement was the fact that white and black soldiers fought together in WWII, they were brothers in War and so could not as easily segregate back in the regular world.  There is probably something to that, but I'm sure the military is not perfect, nor monolithic.  Thus you have some vets who feel disrespected by the protests and some who say that is precisely why they served, to ensure that people could do such a thing.
The tool of the oppressor is selling the narrative that there is only one way to view such things and thus creating a division that cannot be bridged by logic and understanding.  The constructive things that have been happening around this thing that started as a seemingly trivial action have become a valuable conversation starter.  The conversation can only happen though when people are willing to honestly engage with people about the truth behind their protests or their disagreement with the protests.  Both sides have been articulated well, Sally Jenkins has written a very well balanced opinion on the issue, which I recommend.
What cannot happen is the sort of petulant display that our Vice President put on (at taxpayer expense I might add), or the sort of assault on free speech being proposed by our President, or the threats of Skeletor.  These shut down the conversation, these devolve the dialogue back into a simple black and white (literally) issue so that it can be dismissed and stop rocking the boat.
To the common man who is feeling riled up about this issue, I would ask you to examine your loyalties, and view the Trumps and Pences and Jones of the world with a bit more suspicion than you do right now, they are not on your side.  You have a lot more in common with the black and brown people who are crying out for justice right now than you do with the rich nobles who want you to just shut up and watch football.