by Duke Riley
|
"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."
-Thomas Jefferson
Our American democracy requires constant movement. Like a bicycle, it functions best when in motion and will fall to one side or another when standing still. The greatest threat to democracy is stagnation and complacency. Dissidents, objectors, radicals and vigilantes are as necessary to a democracy as law enforcement officials and the keepers of order.
The Revolution and the path to American democracy began in 18th century Boston. Like Athens before it, the bustling, scrappy seaport was fertile ground for the ideals of democracy to grow. Alive with the constant movement of people and ideas, seaports breed tolerance, opportunity and improvisation. Our Founding Fathers were dissidents and refugees who would be the third party candidates of today, testing and questioning the status quo. In their time, many were seen as insurgents and criminals by comfortable society, disrupting the wheels of commerce and order.
Stagnation in our democracy occurs when the right to the pursuit to happiness becomes mistaken for the right to happiness. An established society, far removed from the flux and energy of chance that De Toqueville saw in our early seaport-democracy, will crave and demand safety once a level of comfort has been reached. Happiness is not a right that is protected in our Bill of Rights, nor is it defined as a life without fear or chance. Once this becomes misinterpreted, there develops an increasing demand upon our politicians for safety and social controls. This trading of opportunity for safety is the first step toward losing our democracy. Our right to fail, encounter chance and danger is just as important as our right to pleasure. It is what makes us a free people. Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Any society willing to give up liberty for security will lose both and deserve neither."
I grew up in in a very patriotic environment. My family has a long history of military service and law enforcement. I was taught that democracy requires constant vigilance, and this is the duty of every citizen. A great deal of my artistic process involves frequent voyages into the New York City harbor. Sixty percent of the time, I get stopped and interrogated by the Coast Guard, Harbor Police or Homeland Security agents. These encounters range from friendly conversations to my being taken into custody without just cause. In all instances I am told that I have no right to be in the harbor and am ordered to leave. It is up to me to know what my rights are and argue for them. In each case, I must recite the laws that apply to my presence in the harbor point by point until the officer can no longer hold me. This is so frightening because it must happen all the time. Citizens need to know, exercise and fight for their rights, lest they are forgotten.
Our rights need to be constantly tested, refreshed and renewed. This testing is the messy process of a democracy and needs to be enacted by those who break the order of things through questioning and challenging the status quo. The boisterous sea of our liberty relies heavily upon these waves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
