Democracy and the reality of impermanence

There is nothing in this world that lasts forever. Nothing.

One day your relationships will end. Your job. The teenage years. That great cup of coffee. Brett Favre’s career (maybe).

It sounds kind of depressing, but I find the whole idea to be quite liberating. Remember Tim Robbins’ line from Shawshank Redemption? You either get busy livin’ or you get busy dyin’.

We are fortunate to live in a country where our system of government includes impermanence by design. People who understand the reality of impermanence and who live in countries with oppressive governments, particularly Burma and Tibet, know that history proves that their brutal regimes will end someday. But here in the United States, we are guaranteed the opportunity to change our government.

There will always be another election. After last week’s election, most of my friends gnashed their teeth, despaired, and otherwise felt rather dour about what is in store in the next 2-4 years with our government, including not only Congress but also our state government. (A few of my friends were happy or at least satisfied.)

And who can blame those who were trapped in a glass case of emotion after Election Day? Here in Pennsylvania, affirmative state legislation for the LGBT community is probably dead in the short term. Rhetorical and legislative attacks on the immigrant community will go on with more leverage to get draconian (and unconstitutional) bills passed. Women’s reproductive healthcare, which is already less than robust in PA, will be under further threat.

Add in expected deep cuts in education and environmental protection and the landscape looks grim, figuratively and literally.

Ok, now I’m completely depressed and forgot the point of this post. Oh, yeah….

I don’t want to sugarcoat the challenges ahead. The damage from one Congress or one session of the General Assembly can last for years, even decades. Those of us who care about civil liberties, civil rights, and social justice have a lot of work to do. (And let’s not let the Democrats off the hook: We had a lot of work to do with them in the majority, too.)

But this, too, shall pass. We are going to continue to have opportunities to advocate, and advocate we must. If we’re smart and we’re effective, we will have opportunities to stop the attacks on civil rights and civil liberties.

Demographics indicate that those of us who care about the environment, poverty, the LGBT community, and immigrants are going to have the electoral upper hand in the long term. These issues poll well with young people. The younger generation is voting for candidates who care about these and other progressive issues at a higher rate than previous generations. And non-white voters, particularly the rising Latino electorate, are rejecting candidates who reject civil rights.

The current makeup of our government will not last. One election won’t change that.