Remembrance

It is Independence Day, the day to consecrate to ourselves the memory of those who struggled that we might enjoy freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, freedom and democracy are not entirely available to celebrate with us; they are infirm. They are not valetudinarians by choice; they have been tortured and deformed just short of losing their resemblance to whom they were. Their torturers also have a definite relation to the past; they wish to conserve it, to bring it back. They would like to bring us back to a time when there was no Clean Water Act; no Voting Rights Act; no anti-trust laws; no rights for workers. They would like to bring us back to the age of Gould and Rockefeller, the age of the Ludlow Massacre and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire -- for, you see, back then, we had our own sweatshops to ruin the lives of our citizens. They would like to bring us back to an age of all against all, where the powerful predated upon the powerless without restraint. Finally, they would like to bring us back to the age when a dictator took over the reins of a sclerotic democracy, proclaiming himself Emperor. It is a matter of more than personal interest how far our torturers have succeeded; they have done almost everything that they might have wished. Soon, our democratic experiment may be over, and we may join history's ranks as yet another tyranny. It is incumbent on us, therefore, to at least reflect on what our forebears succeeded in creating, that the contrast with our current time be strong and painful enough to inspire action. More, I cannot say.