July 15, 2020
Dear Friends:
I have sent this letter to classmates and other friends. I hope you will read it and understand my deep concern at what I see happening in our country. Please note that I am not writing to ask you or anyone else to change political affiliation or to engage in a political debate. Rather, I hope that, in my small way, I can encourage all of us to work together to overcome what I believe is a very serious threat to our democracy and our nation.
In a recent Facebook post, a friend expressed the view that we should respect (and be loyal to) our president. I’d like to offer an alternative point: The framers of our constitution, I believe, recognized the fragility of a democracy, a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” They saw the great power that the structure of the government could place in a limited number of hands, especially that of the president. Consequently, they created a framework to check that power, notably a judiciary and a system of congressional oversight and, ultimately, a system where every citizen participates through her or his vote.
I believe that what we have seen, and are seeing, is an erosion – if not intentional corruption – of the systems and principles of these checks on power. Some limited examples are: 1.) Suppression of witness testimony in the trial by the Senate on the impeachment of the president. 2.) Discharge of inspectors general when their investigations threaten to expose corrupt practices in the Executive Branch. 3.) Corruption of the federal prosecutor process to prevent prosecution of political allies and punish political foes.
In addition, we have seen actions to silence the voices of the people. Among them: 1.) Forceful suppression of lawful protests, 2.) Voter suppression (many examples, from gerrymandering to outright closing of polling places or, in Iowa and elsewhere, actions by state legislatures to end absentee voting, and even to the threat by the president to close the US Postal System to prevent vote by mail), 3.) Use of Twitter and other social media to advance inflammatory falsehoods aimed to divide the American people along political (and racial) lines. 4.) Publicly branding as thugs or terrorists people in movements that would call attention to what they believe to be misuse of government power and inciting violence against them, in order to intimidate and silence them.123
Fundamentally, the future of our democracy depends upon open, truthful information available to the people of this country. It also depends upon open acceptance of all points of view, in a common interest of the best future for us all. Advertising media, including “social media,” have enormous power to influence beliefs. When used to perpetuate half-truths or outright falsehoods or make political issues out of crises that require all of us to work together, they do fundamental damage to our ability to cooperatively manage our affairs. I believe that these divisive actions deliberately intend to increase the power of a limited number of individuals and lessen the power of the people to govern themselves.
All of this may seem as meaningless rhetoric, but history suggests that it is not.45 By allowing an individual to accrue excessive power and by allowing the mechanisms we have to check that power to become defeated or corrupted, we set in motion a process that will only gain momentum. This, I believe, was well understood by the framers of our Constitution, even though the lesson seems to have been forgotten or disregarded today.
I understand the concern that we must respect the individual who holds the office of the President. However, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that the occupant of that office is one that all citizens can respect, both for his or her integrity and moral values and for actions that unite us as a country rather than divide us.
Above all, I respect our democratic system. I believe that its survival, though, depends upon public oversight and checks on the actions of any individual or groups of individuals who may use the power of public office for their own personal gain. I hope that we will all work together at this critical time, to ensure that we do not lose that which is most precious to all of us: Our democracy. Thank you for reading my thoughts.
In friendship and caring,
Jim Biteman