A Pluralistic Democracy, If You Can Keep It

 

The story of America, for all its flaws and traumas, is a truly grand experiment some 250 years in the making, drawing from influences that date far older than that, and seeking to bring out the best of a collective 330 million unique individuals from all walks of life.

Our diversity is a common source of friction but clearly our greatest marker of strength. Yet it is something we must actively strive for and not take for granted.

I have taken to using the phrase "pluralistic democracy" to describe our country at its best. "Pluralistic" meaning that we are all different, in our viewpoints and pains and aspirations. "Democracy" in that how we, as a pluralistic society, navigate public issues is through a certain process rather than through brute force or historical lineage.

A pluralistic democracy is an amazing organism, one for the world to watch and emulate. Yet it is a vulnerable and endangered one, to be protected and nurtured lest it become fatally wounded.

When we attempt to discredit, erase, or shout down someone because they are of a different "tribe" than us, we are rending the fabric of what makes us us. When we surround ourselves with others who think like us and then deny the existence, voice, or value of others who think differently, we are reenacting long-standing patterns of dehumanization and paternalism that tear at our moral core. 

By the way, read the paragraph above and ask yourself if you immediately thought of the sins of "the other side" rather than your own. Perhaps you are truly above reproach. I know I am not. 

The American experiment, 250 years in the making, requires a constant vigilance from everyone to be their true selves but in doing so to become better selves every day, by engaging in pluralism and democracy within our communities, however hard it might be and at the risk of being a lone voice in the wilderness. We find ourselves within a pluralistic democracy, an amazing creation to be a part of, if we can keep it.