In Tops Friendly Market this morning on Veterans’ Day. It’s 8:20 and I am in the only line that is open. In front of me is a couple not much older than me. He has on his veteran’s hat and shirt proclaiming Navy. As they have a lot to checkout, we stand for a while and start a conversation. I mention my son is in the Navy. The former sailor in front of me was as well, and they were married during his service. I thank her for her service noting she likely had the harder job, being married to a service member. They are there today and he is there with her, because Tops is giving an 11% discount to Veterans today. I am not sure what it means that our veterans feel the need to have to get an 11% discount, that we value them so little that this is necessary.

As I am told by my son, if you are at sea and your boat is on fire, if your best friend is on fire, you jump over them to go save the boat first. If the boat needs to sink with you on it to protect the country you do it. The order of importance is country first, then the ship, then the sailors. Save the country first, then the ship, then your fellow sailors. I am afraid that today as we wait for the sitting President to put country before self, that that concept is so foreign to the majority of my country men and woman. It was not, however, to the former sailor before me and his wife.

So thank you to Tops for honoring our men and women, they deserve it and so, so much more.

© by Daniel DeMarle 11/11/2020

I have a confession to make. I have been unfaithful to my country, or more specifically to Democracy. I have not cheated on it, but I have been like a very bad lover and have taken it for granted for years. I was the lover who always assumed that it would hold its value and virtue when I briefly stopped in for a quickie every two to four years. I have even flirted with other forms of government. I have been tempted by Strong men, and by socialists, I have admired governments in other countries, and thought they look, well should we say…even sexy.

Now like any faithless lover, I can list reasons. Lets start with the fact that Democracy has not always been true to me. When I was a child and first introduced to it, I was enthralled with the one person one vote line. Democracy looked like a free form dancer showing a lot of skin. Yet, it was sadly a mirage. American democracy is unhappily instead a representative democracy. We do not truly vote for a president, instead we vote to tell our elected electors how they should vote for the President. We do not vote on laws, no matter how important, instead we vote for representatives that then go and vote on our behalf. They of course, can vote exactly opposite to what we wanted them to do. We also typically have to make a choice in a two party system between dumb and dumber between bad and less bad. In other words we often have to vote while holding our nose. Pew..

There is also the fact that democracy is still deeply flawed. We as a country have made many, many bad mistakes and have done evil things, and then a few years later done them all over again. Just rinse and repeat, over and over again.

Despite all that however, I still love our democracy. As I have been reminded over and over again that we are still “striving to form a more perfect union.” Yes we can continue to strive.

So what now? With the election of the yellow Dorito who prance across the stage throwing molotov cocktails, I have found the error of my ways. I am not the penitent lover who has found that love, like a marriage needs daily work. Democracy needs constant .. Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly work. We can not simply vote every two or four years. We need to work on a daily basis to make it work. We need to go to legislative meetings, we need to vote on local, county, State, and National elections. We must pester our elected officials. We need to text, email, call them about issues large and small. We must look at budgets, we must read, we must advocate. We must make phone calls, talk to neighbors, talk at public meetings, drive people to the polls, work at the polls, and do everything we can to keep our system working. We must also demand change. We will never have a more perfect union if we are not demanding it change to meet the needs of all of us.

So in 2016, as a I held the pen in my hand to vote, I thought briefly of voting for the chaos candidate, for the Dorito. Simply because he would shake things up. I am forever grateful I did not vote for him. Because he did not just shake things up, he has broken things. So as you vote tomorrow, remember that our Country our Democracy will not survive four more years. The reason is I know that I am not the only faithless member of our democracy. I am most likely talking directly to you, and when you are faithless that means you will not fight to keep Democracy alive.

© words by Daniel DeMarle 11/2/2020