{"id":5060,"date":"2021-11-26T07:28:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T12:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=5060"},"modified":"2021-11-26T07:28:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T12:28:58","slug":"democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/11\/26\/democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Too Early<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was up early on Thanksgiving morning.   \u201cThe dogs\u201d don\u2019t recognize Federal holidays, but I was ready to get going at six, anyway.  It was Thanksgiving Day; there\u2019s cleanup to do, turkeys to prepare (one for cooking, one for smoking), and tables to set.  So getting out of bed wasn\u2019t so hard.  Besides, CeCe, the pit bull puppy, made no mistake about needing to go out.  The harder I tried to sleep, the more she licked my face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The morning news shows on Thanksgiving are usually a compilation of earlier shows.  While the dogs don\u2019t recognize Federal holidays, the crew at MSNBC<\/em> definitely does.  So there were lots of interviews that I usually wouldn\u2019t pay much attention to.  One was of a New York Times<\/em> book essayist (I missed his name) who did a review of the 9-11 Commission Report, now twenty years after the attack.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

9-11<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There was lots of talk about the failures of America after 9-11: black sites, torture, loss of privacy with government intrusion and America\u2019s failure to export democracy.\u00a0\u00a0But there was also a story (always looking for a good story), one that resonates on this day to gives thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve written about Flight 93 before, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania near the little town of Shanksville<\/a>.  The memorials there are powerful, a fitting symbol of American determination and sacrifice.  But this Thanksgiving morning I learned one more detail about what happened that Tuesday on Flight 93.  The passengers, well aware of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, knew they were on a flying missile.  And they chose to do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And before they charged the cockpit door, they did something wholly American.  They took a vote.  The passengers determined by democratic agreement to \u201cdo something\u201d rather than ride the missile to its fate, probably the Capitol Building.  Certainly they understood the likely outcome of their action.  And they were even more aware of their fate if they did nothing.  So they voted to act, to sacrifice, and to try to save America from another assault.  Flight 93 hurtled upside down into a field near Shanksville at over five-hundred miles an hour.  It was democracy in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Rug<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, I witnessed another vote that renewed my faith in democracy.  In Brunswick, Georgia, just north of the Florida border along the Atlantic coast, a jury of twelve citizens unanimously agreed that three white men could not chase down a black man and cause his death.  It was a case that should have been a \u201cno brainer\u201d. One of the white men even videoed the final moments. But it also might have been swept under the rug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local District Attorney, a friend of one of the three, ordered the men not to be arrested.  Before she recused herself, she made sure the next District Attorney would agree not to find cause for charges.  Had an attorney of one defendant not \u201cleaked\u201d the video, charges would never have been brought.  Perhaps the scariest part of this case:  that lawyer leaked it because he thought the video justified the murder. In fact, it was the critical evidence proving the charges against the defendants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Defense<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The defense made it clear where they stood.\u00a0\u00a0They called for black pastors to be banned from the courtroom, they denigrated the character and the physical appearance of the victim, they did everything they could to convince the jury that this \u201cblack man\u201d was guilty – of something.\u00a0\u00a0This was a trial about race, about a black man jogging in a white neighborhood, and about three white men taking the law into their own hands.\u00a0\u00a0It was a case from the 1940\u2019s or 50\u2019s Jim Crow South.\u00a0\u00a0But in our current political climate, there is a looming question:\u00a0\u00a0where does America stand on race, guns, self-defense and vigilantism?\u00a0\u00a0Just look at the result of the Kenosha<\/a> trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleven white and one black juror made their answer clear.  For two days they deliberated, then reached a verdict in time to go home for Thanksgiving: guilty.  The defendants were guilty of varying degrees of murder, guilty of false imprisonment, guilty of assault with their trucks.  All three will spend most of their remaining lives in jail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankful<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  I know that for some, Thanksgiving is symbolic of European mistreatment of the Native Americans.  And there are many things in our history we should be sorry for.  But there are also events we can be proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are two where democracy won out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too Early I was up early on Thanksgiving morning.   \u201cThe dogs\u201d don\u2019t recognize Federal holidays, but I was ready to get going at six, anyway.  It was Thanksgiving Day; there\u2019s cleanup to do, turkeys to prepare (one for cooking, one for smoking), and tables to set.  So getting out of bed wasn\u2019t so hard.  Besides, CeCe, the pit bull … Continue reading “Democracy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocracy : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday was Thanksgiving. 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