June 14th is U.S. Flag Day

From an email message:

The flag of the United States has not been created by rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of rights. It has been created by the experience of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life. It is the embodiment, not of a sentiment, but of a history.

Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. President

June 14th is Flag Day in the USA. Many of us fly our flag in support of our nation and the troops that fight to protect us all. The American Flag is the symbol of the “Great Experiment” of democracy, a politics that has evolved to represent the great country we citizens are very proud of. For us it is not just a flag, it is the spirit behind America.

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Trust

From "The Oxford Book of Aphorisms"

A man usually has no idea what is being said about him. The entire town may be slandering him, but if he has no friends he will never hear of it.

Balzac

The value of a Republican form of government, is that representatives are given a level of trust from their people to make decisions for them. This trust must be maintained through openness with the people on what the representatives are doing. And, the representatives must hear from their people with a high level of transparency. Democracy encourages a pro-active citizenry such that the trust can be maintained.

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The Democratic Government

From "oxymoronica"

If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism;
if our government is to function, it must have dissent.

Henry Steele Commager, Freedom, Loyalty, and Dissent, 1954

The historian knows of this inclination of past successful societies, that change is at the heart of endurance. "Reform, that you may preserve," said Thomas Babington Macaulay. In the heart of the patriot is a place for dissent, for "... in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law" (Martin Luther King).

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Corrupt government

From the Facebook.com page of Daniel De Bonis:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln

Indeed, in the United States we have, since this quote was given, reached this critical democratic problem twice: once in the late 1800's- early 1900's, when this economic crisis was relieved during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, and today, in the early 21st Century. The U.S. Constitution allows the people to take recourse if we believe our Republican form of government needs fundamental correction; the U.S. Bill of Rights asserts this right for all of its citizens. As happened 100 years ago, we in the U.S.A. may rightfully restore our democratic system from the corrupting hands of the monied few.

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The people and government

From "The Oxford Book of Aphorisms"

There has never been a perfect government, because men have passions; and if they did not have passions, there would be no need for government.

Voltaire, Politique et legislation: Idees republicaines, 18th-C

We have a government of, by and for the people; because of this, there will always be a terse, yes, perhaps cynical, eye on government from the people. An open democracy in a republican form of government requires a dispassionate concern for the people by the government.

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