Redtree Times

Releasing the Fire— Included in Persistent Rhythm at West End Gallery

Every time we expand democracy, it seems we get complacent, thinking it’s a done deal. We forget that democracy is a process and that it’s never finished.

And when we get complacent, people who want power use our system to take over the government. They get control of the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court, and they begin to undermine the principle that we should be treated equally before the law and to chip away at the idea that we have a right to a say in our government. And it starts to seem like we have lost our democracy.

But all the while, there are people who keep the faith. Lawmakers, of course, but also teachers and journalists and the musicians who push back against the fear by reminding us of love and family and community. And in those communities, people begin to organize—the marginalized people who are the first to feel the bite of reaction, and grassroots groups. They keep the embers of democracy alive.

And then something fans them into flame.

–Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, July 28, 2024

I had saw somewhere recently the phrase: Change may come fast, but progress comes slowly.

I kind of knew what was meant, that while circumstances often shift radically, the change doesn’t immediately have the intended results. It takes a while to adapt to the change, to discard the what was for the what is. I could identify times in my life where progress came much slower than the change that put it into motion.

But today’s essay from historian Heather Cox Richardson in her daily Letters from an American series put it all beautifully into perspective for me. She begins describing how certain things– she uses bankruptcy, fascism and democracy– happen slowly and gradually, almost undetected, at first then finish with a burst, all at once. She cites examples of how the big turning points in our history follow a similar pattern, beginning slowly with events that kindle a smoldering fire that all at once bursts into the full flame of revolutionary change. 

We’ve been smoldering for eight years now. With the Obama presidency, we became complacent, thinking that the fight for equality for done and in the past. But we now see how wrong we were.

There was a backlash that came with the Obama election, as the forces of big money, white supremacy, and an entrenched patriarchy took advantage of our complacency. Rights have been slowly eroded for women, people of color, and the working class. Many of us barely paid attention to the veiled  (and not so veiled) machinations from those who wanted it all for themselves.

With the Dobbs decision concerning a woman’s right to choose, it all came into focus. It was the spark that set the fire fully ablaze, too big and hot for anyone to ignore. It’s up to us now to keep that fire burning, to make the change that becomes real progress. The choice is between a democracy of expanding progress or a fascist government that exerts more and more control over its citizens. Take a look at what is taking place into Venezuela right now if you want to see what our future might hold if we fail.

It’s a brillant essay from Ms. Richardson, as is usually the case. She deftly uses a passage from John Dos Passos’ trilogy, U.S.A., a book that fully exposes the manner in which controlling powers have continually repeated a pattern of behavior that has gnawed at the fabric of this country for much of our nation’s existence. I urge you to read Ms. Richardson’s post from today and to also subscribe to her daily newsletter. It is free or you can opt to pay in order to show support for her work.