William D. Waltz

from Democracy Is a Kind of Poetry

George Washington wrote that the founding of our republic was “the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.” Hallelujah. The experiment remains viable and ongoing. To my way of thinking, it’s an experiment because it’s an effort to develop a more perfect union whose outcome is neither known nor guaranteed. Our democratic republic promotes happiness by not just recognizing the rights of the individual but holding them aloft, out of the grasp of would-be-tyrants and religious zealots. In its unsullied, original form, democracy is a kind of poetry. It is unbound and undulates like a wave washing over a broad sandy beach. There’s no telling what the next wave will uncover, perhaps the remains of a dead king. Democracy is messy and unruly, but like poetry, it brings life and light wherever it is welcome. In contrast to those closed systems of government that are designed to preserve a hierarchy benefiting one segment of society above all others, democracy is open, alive, evolving, and for everyone, or at least that’s the goal we’re striving for. Yet, as imperfect and fragile as it may be, democracy is a poem I know by heart and hold dear. We must protect and nurture it, for once it’s lost, democracy will be very difficult indeed to win back.

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