Learning the Price of Democracy

#66, May 2, 2001

We rolled quarters in arcs across the smooth marble paving, playing games to pass the time, waiting for the line to advance toward the golden doors of justice. Spring break in Washington DC, and yet another hour in line, this time for the Supreme Court. I told my sons, "this is the capitol of American justice… and the more coins you have, the more justice you get."

But it's hard to get stuck in cynicism when its spring in the city of "aahhs." First, your are disarmed by the visual poetry of branch and blossom, dogwood and daffodil. Then your eyes and your feet are drawn to those stunning monuments to remarkable human character-- the singular strength of Washington, Jefferson's revolutionary foresight, the deep compassion of Roosevelt. From there, you stroll into repositories of the best offerings of the earth and it's human inhabitants -- gems in every sense of the word. Beauty to make one weep.

But I saved my tears for the tragedies. Just the death-camp architecture of the Holocaust Museum, its gray walls inscribed with warnings, chilled my soul, as did the endless funeral procession of names on the Vietnam Memorial wall, visited on a cold and windy night. Every untimely death, marked on this wall, ripped into a web of relations that would never fully recover. I reminded my kids of the walls unbuilt, for the innocents of Vietnam, El Salvador, and Iraq, killed by the American version of the narrow-mindedness that killed those we honor here. And that we must end the madness of war.

I found the most moving and meaningful exhibit in the American History Museum. It told the story of Hawaiian Japanese-Americans in during WWII. While their concentration camp experience pales in comparison to that of the Jews, these were people who were taught and believed that the American Constitution protected them from the mistreatment they were so quickly handed. They learned freedom cannot be taken for granted, and that threats to freedom can come from within their country as well as from outside. They learned to organize and apply pressure to their government, to gain redress for their losses and protection against future abuse.

Heeding this lesson, my family's visit to DC went beyond simply looking at the houses of government. We got involved. My sons and I rose early one morning, rode the Metro up to the White House, and joined a Greenpeace demonstration against the pollution policies of (P)resident Bush. The issues raised in the demonstration became reference points for discussions throughout the rest of our visit.

My daughter works "on the hill" for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. She and I spent two hours planning and carrying out the delivery of letters to Senators' offices, asking them to co-sponsor the new Red Rock Wilderness Bill (as you, too, should ask of Senator Feinstein.) We the unpaid and low-paid stood on the front line of defense against the off-road vehicle and mining lobby.

On our last day we toured the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Watching the sheets of cash come whipping out of those presses reminded me of how badly the corruption of money has infected our government. "One person, one vote" is rapidly becoming "one dollar, one vote." There is nothing to slow this nation's drift toward plutocracy, or worse, fascism… nothing but the increased, ongoing involvement of the un-vested interests, people like you and me. Voting every two years is no longer enough.

Nationally, now is the time to help pass the McCain-Feingold ban of "soft money" contributions, the important first step toward putting people ahead of money. It cleared the Senate; now it must pass the House and be signed by the President. Contact your Representative, and ask friends and relatives in other areas to contact theirs. See http://www.commoncause.org/ for details.

Locally, Petaluma's new Campaign Finance Reform ordinance is scheduled for review by the new City Council on Monday, May 7. Let your Mayor and City Council Members know what you think about curbing the exploding influence of large, last minute local campaign contributions (http://ci.petaluma.ca.us/government/Councilmembers.html) Your effort is the price of democracy.