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My name is Mckay Williams. I am an American citizen. As I write to you, it is now scant hours after the US Senate’s passage of their resolution to advance further debate on their repeal of our Affordable Care Act which puts the lives and livelihood of tens of millions of my fellow citizens in immediate danger.
But that’s not why I write you. At our country’s founding, a group of 56 citizens advocated for the idea of a government created by the people, for the people, and that by requesting our consent to be governed by such a body, they will guarantee the people the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They deemed these rights to be so ingrained in the prosperity of civilization, that the very expression of them was “Self-evident” and they required no further justification than what they were.
I am not a wealthy man, nor am I a formally educated man. I’m not particularly successful, nor am I impoverished. I am neither saint nor sinner. I am, however, an American citizen who believes in democracy, the rule of law, an unbiased justice system… I believe in these things as deeply as some believe in their religions. Contrary to our present execution of those ideals, I have faith in America.
But when I see a government beholden to Party over constituency, denying the rights of the electorate to self-governance; when I see a militarized police force consistently held unaccountable for unexplainable murders of its protectorate, denying citizens to their right to life; and when I see my elected representatives name me “enemy” for publicly dissenting against its oligarchic trends; when I see these things I am reminded of more of Thomas Jefferson’s words:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
But I’m no revolutionary. As a journalist, I have tried my best to sway opinion towards decency, towards analytical thought and reason. Still, I find myself at a turning of the tide, and the currents sway heavily against me. I sometimes fear for me personally, but mostly I fear for my friends, my loved ones and my compatriots. I fear for my home and feel that I can no longer, in good faith, consent to the governance of my government. I am a man whose dogma has failed me.
So now I implore you, all of you, to help me restore my faith.
The Constitution of the United States brilliantly provides for three distinct branches of equal power, who by design counter and balance one another. But what do we do when that has failed us? When is the will of the people subverted by other interests?
We, as Americans, by definition abhor autocracy. Our first President, George Washington, said in his farewell from public life that:
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
It becomes necessary then for the final failsafe built into the Constitution by James Madison, first and foremost under the Bill of Rights: The Fourth Estate, the final check of the will of the people. A free and independent press not beholden to political party or interest but instead bound to a sacred duty of informing the electorate. And when that too has failed us, when the will of advertisers sets the agenda for coverage, when echo chamber sentimentality and tribalism decide what stories you can hear, when opposing sides declare the other “fake”, abandoning reason for theatrics, when the night is darkest we must ourselves rise and speak truth to power.
As President Kennedy said in his inaugural address:
Now the trumpet summons us again–not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need–not as a call to battle, though embattled we are– but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”–a struggle against the common enemies of man…In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility–I welcome it.
We the People, in order to form a more perfect union, must not be tied to the failures of our past. We must stand together, united, a single voice against a sea of troubles. Our words must be our arms, our character must be our strength. Our cause just and our fury righteous.
Join me, citizen journalists. I welcome it.
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Read more by Mckay Williams here on GMP
Mckay Williams Rewrites the Declaration of Independence for 2017
Photo credit: Getty Images
“when I see a militarized police force consistently held unaccountable for unexplainable murders of its protectorate, denying citizens to their right to life; and when I see my elected representatives name me “enemy” for publicly dissenting against its oligarchic trends”
Except that you don’t see these things. These things are a ficticious narratvice to which you have bought into wholly. You are so wrapped up tight in your bubble that you have the nerve to write an article about echo chambers and tribalism while echoing the narrative that your tribe created.
Tribalism, division, propaganda, and selfish agendas are always things “the other side” has, never what “my” side has. My side is always about truth, evidence, balance, fairness, tolerance, justice, professionalism, and what’s best for the greatest number. The Declaration of Independence is a poor choice for this article. That first paragraph of the Declaration is itself totally oversimplified propaganda. It says there are only *two* groups of people, and those two cannot work together anymore. The Declaration goes on to say, basically, either you’re British or you’re American, you’re with us or with them, either you believe in rights (like… Read more »
Thanks for the read. I address many of your concerns in my July 4th article, which came out shortly before this one. I’m sure you’ll find some things you disagree with, but it sounds like it would be up your ally.
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/mckay-williams-rewrites-declaration-of-independence-2017-lbkr/
When Mr. Williams talks about speaking “truth to power,” whose truth is he talking about? Is it an objective truth? If so, what is it? He does not tell us. When I took journalism classes in college, we were told that journalists have an obligation to report on the “who, what, where, when, why” of an event. He departs from that in his first paragraph, when he refers to a piece of legislation as “our” ACA, and adds that the Senate action puts the “lives and livelihoods” of “tens of millions of my fellow citizens in immediate danger.” He offers… Read more »
Hello David, thanks for the thoughtful response. To clarify, this piece is not journalism. I’m an opinion columnist for a non-news media market. I do believe that journalists hold a sacred responsibility to the electorate, one that I am not qualified to represent in this piece. However, I also believe strongly in the concept of “fairness bias”, which argues that not every story actually has two sides. When I say “our ACA”, I’m referring to the American people, of which I am lucky enough to include myself in, and the objective reporting on the benefits of the ACA and dangers… Read more »