There is a cloud hanging over America and we are worried.
What happens with a society when fringe ideology triumphs over reason? What happens when facts no longer matter? What happens when people split into two tribes and no discourse between them is possible? Hopefully, we never find out.
Democracies are fragile. Civil society is fragile. If those in power do not respect the values on which society is built, it will not last very long.
So, we make buttons. They are meant to be cautionary, to warn all citizen to not take for granted everything that has been achieved. They are also meant to unite and bridge two very polarized sides.
If you think we are paranoid, here are some warnings from people with more credibility:
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.” – John Adams
“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.” – Abraham Lincoln
