20 November 2019

Short Yet Powerful

Margaret Sullivan at the Washington Post wrote a short, excellent piece yesterday (link here) about how Americans have a patriotic responsibility to pay attention to what's happening now in Washington. The column is titled "‘I don’t know what to believe’ is an unpatriotic cop-out. Do better, Americans."

Our democracy is our most valuable asset, more so than all our personal property. So we have a duty to both protect that asset and make certain it doesn't fall into disrepair and become damaged.

So people who say they don't know what to believe, who shake their heads and say the news is so confusing, are just being lazy. It's too much trouble for them to pay attention. People died so that you may enjoy freedom but you have so little respect for their sacrifice that you just take your freedom for granted.

The ending on Sullivan's piece is particularly strong:

"Authoritarianism loves nothing more than a know-nothing vacuum: people who throw up their hands and say they can’t tell facts from lies. And democracy needs news consumers — let’s call them patriotic citizens — who stay informed and act accordingly. Flag-waving is fine. But truth-seeking is what really matters."

Read it and share it. This could not be more timely.

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