Democracy Can and Will Be Changed
Earlier this year when I wrote about the state of our democracy, I knew we were in for a ride with twists and turns. I asked us to name the anxiety and fears we felt, take a breath, and let go.
Flash forward six months later, those fears and anxieties might be heightened. From Supreme Court decisions, continued genocides, escalating partisan rhetoric, extreme weather, mass shootings, discouraging debate performances, rising political violence including at the Trump rally, President Biden stepping aside and endorsing Vice President Harris, and more, it has been hard to find solid ground.
Unprecedented event after unprecedented event. Surrounded by so much uncertainty, you may find yourself needing to take more deep breaths. I know you are tired. I am tired too.
So take that deep breath. Pause. Find your center. Hold yourself with care. Pace yourself. Then take another breath and remember: the only certainty is change.
Octavia Butler knew this. In the opening of Parable of the Sower she wrote:
“All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
is Change.”
Change is constant, necessary, and required.
Let’s be real. American democracy is not in a good place.
If we are being really honest, it never has been because it was built on white supremacy and the patriarchy. It could never live up to its promise because it was built on exclusion. So if the only constant is change, and democracy is incomplete, then the path forward requires us to build a new democracy. It requires change.
It won’t happen in one election, although it is clear that this year we must block authoritarianism at all levels of government. The solution isn’t stopping one person when their ideas expand way beyond them. Nor is it electing another. Democracy is more than one person.
Democracy is about us, the people. As a collective, we get to decide how and what we build. Change happens when the people organize.
At BISC, we are clear where we will focus our time and energy. We will focus on the people, building independent political power in states, and organizing around the issues that will drive them. That gives them hope.
Remember the words of Shirley Chisholm as we move forward: “I don’t measure America by its achievements but by its potential.” With tremendous care and community, let us move toward change and the potential of a thriving multiracial, multigenerational democracy and building the world we deserve by making ballot measures love letters to our people.
Through direct democracy, what we touch will change. By moving together as organized people, learning and supporting each other, we are changed.
Our democracy can and will be changed.