In Defense of Democracy and Freedom
Via DemocracyAlive.com, "A Living Democracy"
The 'Great Experiment' in the United States
A foundation of rights, human rights, individual rights, put forward by and in a new National Constitution, Bill of Rights and government with a living Democratic Republic envisioned. Ours is a democracy continuing to this day, a heritage worth protecting... “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.... “all men are created equal”... they have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and with rights to live under a government of their own choosing.
We recall a quote of Benjamin Franklin responding to a question in 1787 about the newly announced birth of the US as he left Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention:
We have "a Republic, if you can keep it."
2024
The Debate Continues, Turbulence in Politics Is the Word of the Day
Democracy Awakening, Notes on the State of America (2023) by Heather Cox Richardson
At a time when the very foundations of democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a roadmap for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy
Visit pages at GreenPolicy360 to explore more about democracy, the republic, politics, history, current events, and citizen rights and responsibilities
Re: The Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Re: The Statue of Liberty and the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution
GreenPolicy360 / New Horizons of Security
The 'Big Picture', moving into the 21st Century and 'New Definitions of National Security'
- Democracy and Freedom Is an International Issue, Security Is Indivisible
On December 24th, 1968, Christmas eve, a first-ever photograph soon to be called "Earthrise" open eyes.
The new vision of our home planet is delivered from the Apollo NASA mission and a modern environmental protection movement in turn is launched. As Earth in full color is seen as never before, a question arises... How are we going to navigate our journey as planet citizens?
We have come far from the past, what will the future now hold, how best can we manage?
Each of us here together on Earth can make a positive difference. 'Quality of life', human rights and a broader rights agenda are 'top of mind'. Now comes a strategic demand, one that professes the importance of defending our democratic institutions, freedom, and need for mutual security and common cause in this 360 world of ours...
Inspired by "Earthrise"
Democracy, a Free Press, Facts & Fact Checking
- Fact Finding and the '3 Ds' -- Discussion, Debate and Decision-Making
“Truthful campaign discussion of public issues is essential to the American form of Government; but wilful misrepresentation of fact has no place either during election time or at any other time.”
-- US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 23, 1940
“The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world – and the category of truth vs falsehood is among the mental means to this end – is being destroyed.”
-- Hannah Arendt, "Truth and Politics", 1967
Many liberals are perplexed that when their fact-checking clearly and definitively shows that a lie is a lie, people seem unconcerned and indifferent. But Arendt understood how propaganda really works. “What convinces masses are not facts, not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably a part.”
People who feel that they have been neglected and forgotten yearn for a narrative — even an invented fictional one — that will make sense of the anxiety they are experiencing, and promises some sort of redemption. An authoritarian leader has enormous advantages by exploiting anxieties and creating a fiction that people want to believe. A fictional story that promises to solve one’s problems is much more appealing than facts and “reasonable” arguments.
Arendt was not a doomsayer. To counter her warnings about political dangers, she elaborated a detailed conception of the dignity of politics. Because of our natality, our capacity to act, we can always begin something new. The deepest theme in Arendt is the need to take responsibility for our political lives.
-- Richard J. Bernstein, professor of philosophy at The New School for Social Research, 2018
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