Democracy and Differentness

When I was growing up in mid-century America, your political party was like the church you went to. Our family was Episcopal, my mother had no interest in politics whatsoever, and my dad was a Republican. So when I was old enough, I registered Republican. I didn’t give it much thought. Then I grew up, met my forever husband in the mid-1980’s, and as we were watching the Republican and Democratic party conventions on television one night, he pointed at the right side of the split screen and asked me, “Are these your people?” To me, the crowd looked mostly male, mostly white, and mostly old.

Then he pointed at the left side, “Or are these your people?” I looked again at the screen and saw people of multiple ages, genders, races—it was all of America in a room, energized and engaged. How had I not noticed before that these were my people? For the next election, I registered Democrat.

 I have seen the messaging and demographics of party affiliation move like a pendulum, back and forth over the years. And I have remained curious about the reasons why we affiliate the way we do—liberal, conservative, moderate, independent, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian—however we label it. Historically, there has been a group where many of us felt we fit in, and to be part of this group has always been our choice. That freedom of choice is the heart of democracy. But now, that seems to have blown up and instead we have biased news broadcasting, the demonizing of the other, and a corporate takeover of our political identities. Gerrymandering seems to be more popular than free and fair elections. Donald Trump is not my father’s Republican, and my dad would not be proud of America and its politics today. Even though my father was a white, male American, we are not and never have been a white, male nation.

Still, I have hope. At 77 years old, I have witnessed the many ways we have botched democracy. And I’ve seen it survive. But our generation is aging out, and now I see the next generation getting ready to take the reins. While they may have already adopted a party bias, research shows they are more fair-minded, more diverse, more forward looking and more hopeful than my generation has become. They have been through toxic discourse, cancel culture and polarizing partisanship and want to move beyond it. Most important, they are more tolerant of differentness, which to me is the soul of America. Freedom of choice is the heart, and differentness is the soul.

It’s not all pretty, our history. We have stolen land, imported slaves and demonized the Native and Mexican Americans who were here long before the white people. We’ve witnessed the holding of power become more important than serving the people. If there was any tradition and order left, Covid blew it up. Now, we need change, and it is up to the younger Americans to bring it. I have hope they will, and I have hope I will live to see it happen.