Politically speaking, I consider myself a radical (d)emocrat. Radical (d)emocrats prefer everyday citizens serving as the people’s representatives in Congress, rather than professional politicians, members of the elite economic classes, or representatives of a corporate-aligned minority.
Radical (d)emocrats believe the way to challenge society’s inherited power structures is through open and honest debate, one where the people who live within those power structures can maintain a conscious relationship with their society, and one that recognizes “the people” as the only rightful sovereign and thus ultimately responsible for society’s development and direction.
Article VII of the Vermont Constitution‘s “declaration of rights of the inhabitants of the state of Vermont” asserts “that the community hath and indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right, to reform or alter government, in such manner as shall be, by that community, judged most conducive to the public weal.”
As a radical (d)emocrat, I couldn’t agree more.
Throughout the day today, the people of this state (and of this country) have the opportunity to act on that right. For the past two years, we’ve watched President Trump and the members of the 115th United States Congress steer this country off the long and bumpy road towards Hope & Change and onto a littered, poisoned trail caked with the droppings of the double-headed monster known as Fear & Greed.
Our majority leaders have whipped us into a divisive frenzy by demanding we return the way we came, arguing that the way we used to be was great, and we need to go back to doing things that way if we want to be great again.
The President and his allies in the 115th Congress ignore the fact that “the way we used to be” included the systematic oppression of the rights of minorities and women and a short-sighted relationship with the Earth and all its creatures.
Thankfully, everyday Americans have the opportunity to “reform or alter” our government today.
I only hope they conceive of that right as radically as I do.
