The founding brothers of the United States of America crafted an exquisitely complex array of checks and balances, anticipating craven behavior by tyrants. Like the stone pillars of a high arch built to defy gravity, ice and wind by carefully balancing opposing forces, they expected an American King George rather like our current imitation. They worked fast as best they could in a hostile time, but could not think of everything; such as the weak behavior of Congress collapsing like bricks made of poor clay.
I thought of this standing at the foot of the Ribblehead Viaduct that curves across a high valley near the apex of the rail line in the barren mountains of Northern England on the way to Scotland. Graceful, audacious–arching in every sense—the span is on post cards, hats, t-shirts and coffee cups. Beautiful but dangerously flawed.
My father would have noticed all the repairs. An engineer, he taught me to look under the bridge for leaking water and loose stone. The bridge, like our Constitution, was built in only six years across terrain considered impossible. Corners were cut sort of like our lazy 3/5th decision regarding Black people. Water driven by mountain wind found the weaknesses and did as water does. The huge stone pillars were left hollow, allowing water to erode from the inside out. The bricks at the top of the arch were made local, fast and cheap; some of the limestone was cracked. It lasted longer than my father would have expected, but its inevitable failure nearly caused the closure of the entire railroad only a hundred years after hundreds of workers died building it.
As everyone pointed fingers, one engineer figured out how to do what should have been done in the first place. Facing calls for drastic closure, he got permission to experiment. After carefully observing all the failure points, he filled the hollow pillars with concrete, inspected every stone and brick, replacing even those thought impossible to reach. New roadbeds rebuilt to drain correctly. Lots and lots of iron bracing, rivets and bracing my dad would love. Thoughtful engineering saves money. Only $3 million saved the route for all the dependent villages and those hurrying to Scotland, staring at their IPhones today.
Grown ups make things better for people they will never know. The are rewarded with a quiet pint to reflect on a life well lived.
American grownups could do that soon.
The fellow imitating a stumbling King George will pass as did all the failed tyrants like him. We will have a damaged and unsafe democracy, but we will be finally see the design flaws. Some call for a whole new bridge, which will just have a new array of flaws. This one just needs thoughtful repair.
Soon—perhaps two, maybe four, six or eight years from now we can fix the flawed structure so that it can carry the weight of free people. Those citizens can make the collective decisions necessary in a tiny world experiencing the wild winds of climate change. We don’t have to invent the rails, just make a bridge that can bear the weight in hard weather. We have plenty of science, engineering, social intelligence, political sense and faith to do that.
We can protect ourselves from predatory gangs. It may take longer than my lifetime to earn the trust of our world partners, but they have had hollow pillars, too, and will probably welcome a chastened, humbled people.
Even as the pillars sway, we can see the future to choose. It will be solar, now outrunning even the most wildly optimistic projects of Al Gore on maximum coffee. That kind of energy is safe for democracy unlike oil or coal. It thrives, decentralized. Even our tiny narrowboat has enough to get us off grid except for clean water. That’s true in your life, too; you just don’t have to know it (how many gallons a year do you use; where does it come from?). But almost all the problems are solvable once we can turn our attention toward actual threats instead of the ones whipped up to make us afraid of ourselves.
If anyone is anxious, it should be former FBI Director Jim Comey who was just indicted, blowing past all the norms of the criminal justice system to serve a tyrant’s vengeance. Comey asked people to vote. The only way out of the deep trouble our country is to ensure free and fair elections where people who believe in democracy turn out in record numbers. (Joyce Vance has straightforward counsel.)
Congress can fix what is broken, if we had a Congress. There are dangerous calls for a whole new Constitution. It just takes some new laws designed to fix some simple design flaws. Getting a functional Supreme Court will take longer, but once the tyrant passes, they are likely to be more inclined to obey laws themselves. A functional Congress only takes about 300 grown-ups between Senate and House, maybe 320.
Each legislator is elected in a small geography in which every door can be knocked, every voter known. Every district is likely to have a demonstration October 18th that you can attend with fellow citizens. Bring your kids so they see free people standing up for their future. You’ll be surprised by who comes along. In fact, invite them.
That march will be called “no kings,” which confused things a bit. The London protest I’ll be at is called, with more precision, no tyrants. That’s the problem that needs fixing. Well behaved Kings are harmless. The better ones seem to help people keep their collective eye on the future. The Brits figured that out centuries ago and we will, too.
All of us—helpful, craven, those not paying attention and the rabid, are just people. Another Quaker tip helps here. Because we are all just people, equal before God and the universe, all external titles are distraction. I would never get a letter from a Quaker, addressed to The Reverend Dr. I’m Gary Gunderson, the king is Charles Windsor, and the tyrant, Donald.
It is good that we know what has almost fallen down. Be done with the anxiety and get to work.
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