Democracy with purpose
I am not a political scientist or a social scientist, but I try my best to keep abreast of local, national and global current events. I take note of what is happening in the world around me, because this is the state, nation and world in which my three young children are growing up.
The events of today are laying a path to what the next generations will inherit, and it is clear the time has come to adjust our course for the benefit of all of our children.
Unless our elected officials address the COVID-19 pandemic and grease the wheels of the vaccine rollout now, our children’s childhood will slip through the gaps in theirs masks. Unless the work of dismantling the support structures of systemic racism begins now, our children’s future will be one of white privilege or inequity. Unless our elected officials address the existential threat of a climate in crisis now, life on planet Earth will not be sustainable for the generations that follow ours.
This work cannot be accomplished in our current houses of government in Harrisburg or Washington, D.C., because these houses of government are broken.
The force of racist, anti-Semitic and nationalistic voices of elected officials, the media, as well as the voices of some of our neighbors has fractured them.
These voices are loud but they are coming from a minority of the electorate; but rather than denounce these hate-filled views, they are being implicitly, sometimes explicitly, supported by many elected officials in the Republican party in Washington and in Harrisburg.
Either these elected officials are using this strategy just to secure votes in order to hold onto their elected positions for yet another term (and the perks and power that come with it); or worse, they actually embrace these views themselves. Whether it is just a political strategy or their firmly held personal beliefs, the current situation in our houses of government is harmful to my children and to yours, because it is preventing the real work of legislating to address the life-or-death crises mentioned above from getting done.
On Jan.20, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman captured millions of hearts around the world when she read “The Hill We Climb” during the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. My children and I were captivated by her prose and inspired by her poise. In Ms.
Gorman’s closing lines, I heard a crisp call to action to be brave enough to see the light of a democracy that functions with purpose.
I know there are many of us in Bucks County who are brave enough to see the light, to respond to this call to action, and to make sure all of our elected officials, Republicans and Democrats, hear the voices of the majority demand a drastic shift in politics from one of division and theatrics to one of connection and authenticity.
This course-correction is the only way we can carry on with the unfinished business of this great democracy; one that functions for the benefit of all people regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, socio-economic status or political affiliation, and work together – with purpose – towards a future where all of our children can thrive and the world can heal.
Eleanor Breslin Upper Black Eddy
The events of today are laying a path to what the next generations will inherit, and it is clear the time has come to adjust our course for the benefit of all of our children.
Unless our elected officials address the COVID-19 pandemic and grease the wheels of the vaccine rollout now, our children’s childhood will slip through the gaps in theirs masks. Unless the work of dismantling the support structures of systemic racism begins now, our children’s future will be one of white privilege or inequity. Unless our elected officials address the existential threat of a climate in crisis now, life on planet Earth will not be sustainable for the generations that follow ours.
This work cannot be accomplished in our current houses of government in Harrisburg or Washington, D.C., because these houses of government are broken.
The force of racist, anti-Semitic and nationalistic voices of elected officials, the media, as well as the voices of some of our neighbors has fractured them.
These voices are loud but they are coming from a minority of the electorate; but rather than denounce these hate-filled views, they are being implicitly, sometimes explicitly, supported by many elected officials in the Republican party in Washington and in Harrisburg.
Either these elected officials are using this strategy just to secure votes in order to hold onto their elected positions for yet another term (and the perks and power that come with it); or worse, they actually embrace these views themselves. Whether it is just a political strategy or their firmly held personal beliefs, the current situation in our houses of government is harmful to my children and to yours, because it is preventing the real work of legislating to address the life-or-death crises mentioned above from getting done.
On Jan.20, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman captured millions of hearts around the world when she read “The Hill We Climb” during the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. My children and I were captivated by her prose and inspired by her poise. In Ms.
Gorman’s closing lines, I heard a crisp call to action to be brave enough to see the light of a democracy that functions with purpose.
I know there are many of us in Bucks County who are brave enough to see the light, to respond to this call to action, and to make sure all of our elected officials, Republicans and Democrats, hear the voices of the majority demand a drastic shift in politics from one of division and theatrics to one of connection and authenticity.
This course-correction is the only way we can carry on with the unfinished business of this great democracy; one that functions for the benefit of all people regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, socio-economic status or political affiliation, and work together – with purpose – towards a future where all of our children can thrive and the world can heal.
Eleanor Breslin Upper Black Eddy