Democracy is a Wonderful Thing!

Recently, at a meeting of the Woonsocket City Council and the Woonsocket Charter Review Commission, there was a discussion of the initiative and referendum proposal that I had proposed and that the Commission had approved and forwarded to the Council.  Initiative and referendum are among several changes to restore and promote good government.  These efforts that have been part of American government since the 1890s, important parts of the so-called Progressive Movement. 

Most of Rhode Island’s 39 municipalities have initiative and referendum provisions in their charters in one fashion or another.  Woonsocket has, until now, been in a minority of communities not extending this right to local residents.  It is hoped that if approved by the Council and sent on to the voters for consideration in November this will change. 

Prior to reviewing this proposal, the Council had reviewed several proposals dealing with term limits, another effort to limit government and bring a lack of response to curb.  Council President John Ward “joked that if the Council voted against term limits then someone could get it on the ballot with this initiative.”   My response was “democracy is a wonderful thing, Mr. President” and indeed it is.

America has consistently “self-corrected” itself in the face of excesses - material, political and cultural.  This was the case with the era of Trusts and material greed towards the end of the 19^th century with “Trust busting” and the adoption of federal laws to protect unsuspecting consumers; as it was with the Temperance Movement and the adoption of the 18^th Amendment that brought Prohibition to prevail for 14 long, dry years until it was repealed by the 21^st Amendment.

Recently, the battle cry of many is “transparency.”  This is really the maturing of the concept of open government in the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal.  Open government in turn, was itself  spawned of good government efforts of the 1950s.  From Alexis de Tocqueville’s observations in 1831 to those of a contemporary Tea Party activist, we remain a nation of active participants not merely observers.  The dangers we face today include an ignorance of rights and responsibilities given to each citizen. Therein lies the concern of many, myself included.

When teaching high school history, I created what was by all accounts a tremendously popular elective course entitled “Citizenship In Action.”  The objective of the course was to provide authentic civic education to students - 11^th and 12^th graders who are soon to be legal adults.  As pleased as I was with the enthusiastic response of my students, I was amazed by the interest that their parents would express in the same materials their sons and daughters were covering in my class. 

The late Lotte E. Scharfman, a refuge from Hitler’s perversion of life is credited with the quotation: “democracy is not a spectator sport” and truly it is not.  Without personally living through that terror, that hell that man perpetrated on man, we can understand what can happen when citizens do not participate, do not object, do not oppose, do not resist. Even without running for public office, citizens have many roles to choose from including writing letters to the editor, blogging, listening to public affairs programs in addition to paying taxes, serving on juries, etc.

The essential role of the citizen, from 18 to 98, is to be aware of what is going on in their city, state, and nation; being able to form an educated opinion on that topic; to know how to express that opinion and direct it to the appropriate party to get the response or goal intended.  Think about it.

Democracy is a beautiful thing.  Refresh your perspective by reading the Declaration of Independence.   It is as radical a manifesto in 2011 as it was in 1776 - a clarion call to action and responsibility we would do well to remember today.  Use it as a prism through which you consider and analyze the issues we face.

René M. Lafayette, M.Ed., is an educator and Commissioner of the Woonsocket Charter Review Commission.  He formerly served in both elected and appointed capacities on the local and state levels of government in Rhode Island.  While a high school history teacher in Massachusetts, he developed two social studies electives: Citizenship in Action and Foundations of Homeland Security.  In 2010 the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association endorsed his Citizenship In Action course as “authentic civic education... for high school students in fulfilling statutory and practical requirements for new adults in the Commonwealth.”