SELF-EVIDENT
BARN OWL
Below is the post for week 50
SELF-EVIDENT
Michelle Hornish’s blog, Small Deeds Done, last week addressed how Democrats abandoned rural and red areas over the last 20 years, leaving the infrastructure for organizing and advocacy to dry up and blow away. The “50 State Strategy” faded away long before I realized it. But these are the days we must re-emerge in those areas, to offer a progressive perspective to counter the MAGA media machine. While a series of newspaper articles do not replace feet on the ground and knocking on doors, it may help to open the minds we need to meet. And the articles can go where no canvasser is likely to be welcomed.
I see Barn Owl as part of the “long game” of left wing politics that has been lost to us for generations. These articles are available to any one who wants to publish them in their own rural community. This will best work if a Democratic county group - or a few determined people who can pool their money - take on the simple task of posting articles locally and sowing some seeds of resistance. Honestly, we don’t know how much longer this will be possible to do so easily. Don’t be afraid to use your name and take a stand. Readers will know that you are sticking your neck out where most opinions they hear are digital and anonymous. Even a few lines well written and honest in the body of a small paper or in the want ads will draw some attention and remind the reader that something is going on that matters.
Beginning January 1, BARN OWL will offer the option to pay for your subscription. The articles will always be available to readers who opt not to contribute. Money from all donations goes directly to the cost of ads in Jackson, Buffalo and other counties in Wisconsin and other states and, hopefully, will allay the cost for groups who could not afford to do this otherwise.
SELF-EVIDENT
The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence begins with one of the most powerful and earth-shaking statements ever written. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The word “self-evident” stands out. We don’t use that word much. Self-evident means more than “obvious” -- it means unquestionable -- something so true that it needs no proof. The basis of the Declaration springs from this statement. Jefferson was saying it is beyond any doubt that all men are created equal and that our creator gave us rights to life, liberty and happiness that cannot be taken away.
These were bold words in 1776. Americans were the first to embrace those words. But ideals alone do not make something real. Our new nation was dipped in contradictions. In 1776, only white men who owned property were considered “equal.” Even with such great words, we allowed slavery, and women had no rights. Over time, brave people have used Jefferson’s words to prove that “all men” also means all women and all people of color. It wasn’t that long ago that our parents and grandparents saw black people forced to sit in the back of the bus and drink from different water fountains. Girls had their dress length measured in front of the class and were told they couldn’t play sports. Women could not have their own bank accounts.
We have come a long way but still there are citizens who question whether those truths are really “self-evident.” They argue what Jefferson meant or if the words were ever meant for everyone. These are the same people who stood beside us in grade school and, with hand on heart, pledged allegiance to a country that promised “liberty and justice for all.”
Today, the ideals we pledged to as children are being challenged by people in power. These people don’t see why they should honor any ideals but their own. They don’t see that law applies to them. They represent a small and privileged group who are not people dedicated to public service or to what the rest of us want.
It is self-evident only to them that they are above the law.
By Ben Boardman and Friends. Paid by gifts from supporters
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