The Worst Form?

 A parishioner reminded me last week of a Winston Churchill quote from 1947:  "[D]emocracy is the worst form of government," he said, "except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time . . . ." (https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes)  These past weeks we have certainly seen that put to the test.  

It would, of course, be far easier to  give up on democracy.  How much simpler it would be to have some form of autocratic rule.  No decisions to be made.  No need to take responsibility for anything that happens.  Just go along to get along. 

But those of us who are part of the Congregational tradition have realized over the years that as hard as it is sometimes to have the conversations necessary to make decisions for the whole body, our lives are greatly enriched when we do.  And often our decisions are so much better.  Especially when we work at including everyone in the conversation.

Clearly, as the attack on the Capitol made very clear, we need to recommit ourselves to the work democracy.  Work that should be, must be, non-violent and broadly inclusive. And just as clearly, as the protests over the summer also made clear, there are many who have not been included in the decision-making process, many whose voices have not been heard.  Those who are impoverished, rural folks, people of color, and the list goes on.

Let's be clear, our democracy is broken.  But I hope we don't approach it like so many other things in our modern age.  I hope we don't just throw it out and replace it with something new and different.  I hope that we will have the courage, the patience and the will to fix it; to honestly assess what's wrong, and to address it.

I don't think planned obsolesce is built into American democracy, but clearly, from the start, there was a recognition that it needs ongoing adjustments, even major adjustments.  And for that to happen it will take all of us being involved.