Eleanor was assertive. Not in an abrasive way, but as a prod. Much as a parent might give a child a loving push of encouragement, she pushed us all to act. This is particularly true of her feelings about democracy.
In her 1940 book, The Moral Basis of Democracy we can see how devout she was to democracy. She explained her intent in a short forward:
“… I am hoping in this little book to be able to give a clearer definition of the thinking of one citizen in a Democracy. By so doing it may be possible to stimulate the thoughts of many people so that they will force themselves to decide what Democracy means to them – whether they can believe in it as fervently as they can in their personal religion; whether it is worth a sacrifice to them, and what they consider that sacrifice must be.”
Following her guidance, let’s take a moment to think about what that sacrifice for democracy must be: It’s a small sacrafice now, or a large sacrafice later. It’s taking steps such as becoming a “light for rights” on the Eleanor Lives! website to join with others today to thwart the rise in athoritarianism, or it’s fighting later in war which is the result of athoritarism run amok – again.
She saw first hand the appeasement of Hitler in 1940. The refrain she resisted was that it was “up to the Germans” to decide if they wanted athoritarian government. This appeasement made defeating Hitler more difficult later.
Unfortunately, appeasement to athoritarianism is happening once again. When Chinese President Xi had the Chinese Constitution changed in 2018 so that he could be President for life, President Trump congratulated him saying “he’s great” and joked that “America should try it.” After these remarks, President Trump’s press secretary said that regarding Xi being President for life, “he [Trump] was fine with what’s happening in China.”
Now President Xi has not only established his position as President indefinitely, he has consolidate the Party so that there is no opposition around him. This is not fine. Democracy is a human right. It in enshrinded in the Universal Decalaration of Human Rights and is a centerpiece of the draft International Bill of Rights that is part of Eleanor Lives! After World War II, a core part of “never again” was that never again shall an athoritarian leader govern a country.
Eleanor and others understood that unbridled power leads to despotism. This is also a core concept of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for an independent judiciary. Eleanor warned: “Men who have the instincts for dictatorship are always a danger in any society. Free citizens must be constantly alert to preserve their liberties. In the United States, it is easy to discover a demagogue, but it sometimes requires courage to stand up immediately and say you don’t agree with certain methods and certain ideas. However, if we want to preserve our liberties, we had better show that courage – it is the only way I know of to remain a free people.” Americans, and people in other countries need to show such courage now.
The decline of democracy is not new and it is ongoing. According to a report issued by Freedom House on March 1, 2021 Three-quarters of the people on Earth live in countries where freedom is declining. 2021 marked the 15th consecutive year of global democratic backsliding — “a long democratic recession,” in the organization’s words, that is “deepening.”
Let us all make a small, dedicated sacrafice, to fight now with words now, and the rule of law, so that later we do not have to fight with guns, cyber-attacks or nuclear weapons. We’ve been down that road twice with two world wars – a third time and humanity is out. Act now. Follow Eleanor, and participate in Eleanor Lives to uphold democracy!
Leave a Reply