We Have to Collectively Save Our Democracy

by Ernie McCray

This democracy
of ours
is seen
as an experiment,
one where every citizen,
more or less possesses
the right to life and liberty
in a pursuit for happiness.
But one would be negligent
not mentioning that this experiment
has lacked a hypothesis
by which
America could test
probabilities for success,
this neglect
leaving some people,
from the beginning,
behind the rest
when it comes to equality and liberty,
while other folks,
just from the color of their skin,
were in like Flynn
in American society,
meaning the experiment
has been a testament
that it has been forever tampered with
by nationalist White supremacists,
many of them terrorists,
animated confederate flag wavers
known in the past for
lynching and tarring and feathering,
emerging now, after being quieted
for a while,
as emboldened barbarians
who buy into lies
like flies
attracted to the lights
of an insect trap,
proud victims of a “Big Lie”
that sent them rampaging
through a government building
which landed them in prison
as traitors to their nation,
scary human mutations
bent on destroying the experiment
like a scientist
emptying the contents of a test tube
into a hazardous waste container,
having never believed in the undertaking
in the first place,
signaling, to the believers
in the intent
of the experiment,
that we collectively
have the responsibility
for saving our democracy
or watch it sink like a ship at sea,
gurgling and gasping,
a monumental loss to humanity,
especially now
when facts and truths
are more and more
viewed with disdain
in this Land of the Free.

And we begin this rescue mission
in November
when we vote again,
in numbers like we’ve never voted before
and then, more than ever before,
we pressure those we voted for
to honor the experiment
more than it has ever been revered before.

Remembering someone’s wise words:
“Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport.”

We can never take our eyes off the prize.