Thomas Paine writing on a drum as depicted in a statue in Morristown, NJ. (Photo copyright © 2019 Dianne L. Durante, used with permission.)
July 4, 2024 by David Silverberg
On July 4, 1776 the British colonies of North America declared their independence. By December that independence appeared to be at an end.
General George Washington had suffered a string of defeats. The revolutionary army had been driven out of New York and pushed back through New Jersey. The soldiers were discouraged and many of their enlistments were about to expire. They were cold, ill-fed and ill-equipped and the enemy seemed overwhelming. The fervor of colonists for independence was wavering. There was little prospect that the revolt would—or could—succeed.
The situation was so dire that one soldier, a writer whose pamphlet Common Sense had been instrumental in sparking the revolution, sat down and writing on a drumhead, penned an essay he titled “The Crisis.”
The cause that Thomas Paine championed, that of liberty and independence, ultimately went on to achieve victory and the United States of America was born.
But it was by no means certain that it would succeed. At every point during a grueling, eight year war, all could have been lost. It was only extraordinary dedication and commitment to the cause that allowed it to succeed.
Today, on the 248th anniversary of that Declaration of Independence, the cause that Thomas Paine and George Washington served is again in crisis.
In 1776 the threat was a monarch across the seas, backed by the resources of a vast empire. Today, the threat is a domestic demagogue, backed by a foreign dictator with extensive resources, aiming to re-establish an empire lost through its own failures.
In 1776 the threat was “establishment of an absolute Tyranny” by a foreign king. Today, the threat is of establishment of an absolute tyranny by a domestic demagogue who seeks the power of a king.
In 1776 the threat was that the people of the colonies had suffered “a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object” that “evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism.” Today a long train of crimes, abuses and usurpations is again designing to reduce them under absolute despotism.
In 1776 the threat was that the people would be prevented from pursuing their “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Today the threat is that a would-be dictator will take away all the rights, liberties and freedoms won over the past 248 years and utterly crush those who seek them.
In 1776 the signers of the Declaration of Independence rejected the idea that a monarch held unlimited, absolute power and declared that “all men are created equal.” Today, a majority of justices on the Supreme Court of the United States have held that there is no equal justice under law and that one person, who holds the title President, is far more equal than all others and immune from punishment, checks or balances.
There are, of course, differences. A big one is that in 1776 the colonists weren’t sure what form of government would follow independence. Today, after 248 years of struggle and labor, America is a democracy.
The heart of hope
Democracy means many things but perhaps its greatest value is that it provides hope; hope that things can change, improve and adapt and that people can shape their government to meet their circumstances and needs.
But democracy doesn’t just provide hope in everyday lives.
The American system of unbroken elections held faithfully under its Constitution has also provided hope to those who seek political power through legitimate, constitutional means.
Throughout American history people pursuing elected office have been rejected by voters. But because they had the confidence that there would be new elections at regularly scheduled intervals and they had the internal fortitude to keep going, they dusted themselves off, learned from their mistakes, and made new efforts to win office. Democracy, the Constitution and elections gave them the confidence to try again.
It’s worth remembering that George Washington lost his first election for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1755. Abraham Lincoln lost five elections before winning the presidency in 1860. In 1920 Franklin Roosevelt lost his bid for the vice presidency. Richard Nixon lost campaigns for president and senator. Closer in time George HW Bush lost two Senate bids. When starting out, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all lost their first bids for seats in the US House of Representatives.
In every case they trusted that the constitutional, democratic system of government gave them a chance to try again. It provided them with hope.
Only one candidate for high office in American history, Donald Trump, has ever responded to an electoral loss with denial, delusion, fraud, falsehoods, criminality, whining, interference, subversion, violent insurrection and ultimately, and arguably, treason.
Now he is seeking office again to replace the democracy of hope with a dictatorship of hopelessness.
That is certainly not the spirit of 1776.
The new crisis
As in 1776 when Paine sat down to write on his drumhead, patriotic lovers of democracy—of all parties—are in crisis.
Their confidence in their standard-bearer has been severely shaken. The courts are proving unable or unwilling to hold a criminal to account for his crimes. A blindly ideological Supreme Court has overturned America’s founding principle. The forces of despotism are energized, funded and seem overwhelming. Vast swaths of Americans seem susceptible to the hypnosis of cultic hallucinations. A would-be tyrant spews hatred, prejudice and rage while promising retribution, retaliation and revenge. The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of a passionate intensity. And the consequences of an electoral loss are apocalyptic and horrifying.
This would all be familiar to Thomas Paine.
But in their time, Paine and Washington refused to panic, desert or surrender. They soldiered on, marching into the face of uncertainty, committed to their ideals regardless of the odds.
This is what true patriots committed to democracy and the Constitution must do again.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who carries the standard for democracy. That decision is up to the candidate himself and the professionals, elected officials and the party faithful around him. There’s a vigorous debate under way.
But beyond the tactical considerations, the polls, the day-to-day campaign concerns and even the ultimate nominee, the question before the American people is very simple: One choice is democracy. The other is dictatorship. Regardless of the names, one outcome will protect, preserve and defend the Constitution. The other will crush, consume and eradicate democracy and all the rights so painfully won.
One candidate is hope. The other is despair.
Thomas Paine and George Washington made their choice. They stuck with it. It took a long time but in the end they won.
Today America doesn’t really have a choice. If the American democratic, constitutional public is to survive, if humanity’s last, best hope on earth is to live on, then we need to shoulder whatever serves as our musket and face forward to the enemy.
As Thomas Paine put it best:
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
Happy Independence Day!
Liberty lives in light
© 2024 by David Silverberg