magic feather: SMALL TOWN THERAPIST ON TELL THE TRUTH AND SPEAK UP

Democrats march in the 4th of July parade

"There's nothing surer, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." from the song Ain't We Got Fun by Gus Kahn 1920

A small but very lively group of Democrats marched in our small town's parade, gleefully. Our posters and banners fearlessly proclaiming that we love our country and most emphatically our democracy.

What's interesting is that we had to fight for this freedom of speech because the Chamber of Commerce in our community did not want us to march. They declared that there would be no politics in our local parade.

What's most interesting and ironic is that our country was founded on politics and the July 4th tradition is to promote pride in our democracy. Remember our forefathers fought very hard to attain democracy. Review if you need to how the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution came to be. A bold stand by our forefathers divorcing us from the King of England.

Our democracy, you might have noticed, is under daily attack by our current President, his followers, the Republicans in Congress and the Supreme Court majority.

The First Amendment: freedom of speech.

The Fourth Amendment: protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The Fifth Amendment: due process, protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy.

The Sixth Amendment: the right to a fair and speedy trial

The Fourteenth Amendment: Equal protection and due process

Recently, the Library of Congress reported a "coding error" that allegedly caused sections of the constitution to be removed from its online displays. Ironically, the missing sections include many of the actions that the current administration is guilty of. To wit:

1.Foreign emoluments clause: the clause that restricts the acceptance of gifts or payments from foreign governments. Pretty sure that applies to the $400 million 747, currently being renovated for our President, "gift" from Qatar.

2.Habeas corpus: This protects individuals from unlawful detention by requiring they be brought before a judge to determine the legality of their imprisonment. Unless you have slept through the last seven months you know for a fact people have been snatched from their homes and thrown into detention centers on a daily basis. Justice? Not if you have brown skin.

Also, Congress has surrendered control of the purse strings with total disregard for the checks and balances built into our system of government.

Then there's the firing of public servants and of dissolving federal agencies. Horribly, we witnessed Elon Musk's DOGE running roughshod over our dedicated public servants while sucking up billions of taxpayer dollars for his Starlink and Space X corporations.

This is an administration of greed, revenge and exploitation. "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" as the song goes. Examples abound of the power grabs and the disregard for the laws of this country.

To be a good citizen I contend we need to, must, stand up to the law breakers, challenge those responsible for the potential loss of our rights and our democracy. Speak Up!

How do we do this? One small example occurred here in our town when the Chamber declared political parties and political candidates would not be allowed in our 4th of July parade. They feared it might make people uncomfortable to see protest signs. I thought to myself, well that's not our United States on the 4th of July. It's all about celebrating freedom from oppression.

My husband and I met with the head of the Chamber, a friend, to talk about the new rule. We tried to convince her that the new rule was against our Constitutional right to free speech. She argued that the Chamber can make the rules for the parade since they sponsor and run it. It was a cordial but unsatisfying meeting. I then went to the local Indivisible group, of which I'm a member. They are not affiliated with any political party but were also considered to be political and therefore forbidden to participate. Indivisible is a non-profit (501c3) and all about Democracy. Well, our Indivisible group was appalled that they were also barred from the parade and decided to join with the Democrats to argue for our right to free speech and to march in the parade.

A proud American

One of the members of the Indivisible group is an immigration lawyer and together we crafted a letter to our local newspapers. That got the community talking, especially about free speech and the parade. Many people came to our defense and stories abounded about how we have always had the Democrats, Republicans and candidates for office in the parade, proudly marching down the street.

Another meeting was called, with the addition of two Chamber board members, and our attorney member laid out our right to free speech and to march. Finally they agree to let us march with the only restriction being that there be no vulgarities on our banners or signs.