Subject or CItizen?

Subject or Citizen?

I have never written something with such a political overtone as this. So, before I start to dive in, let’s get a bit acquainted. For all of those who despise the hyper-educated I have good news; I just missed getting my degree in theatre at a small public university in California. I have no BA, no Masters, no PhD. I haven’t studied political science or sociology, so no erudite musings based on deep learning from an intellectual snob. For those of you who would now like to dismiss me as a bumbling bumpkin; you should know that my parents also went to college. And spent the 50’s and 60’s hanging out with a sassy group of the intelligentsia from the University of Chicago with a Stanford and a Cal alum for good measure. My mom worked in the art world (still does) and my dad was a 20^th century raconteur which means he was really smart, had a remarkable wit, drove a cab, did odd jobs, and drank too much most of his life. So, between these two, at the end of the day I am an intellectual mutt with just enough original thought to let me think I’m interesting.

This brings me to why we’re here. At this time, I find myself on the edge of grief for the loss of a nation seeded in democratic principles laid out in magnificent imperfection by our Founding Fathers. Over the past few weeks, I have been reading (very slowly) The Quartet by Joseph J Ellis which is an in depth look at the time between the end of the American Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights (my summary, not his; apologies Mr. Ellis). Reading about this time in the formation of our Nation has given me great comfort during these tumultuous times for the simple reason that we were terribly screwed up then just as we are now. Hopelessly divided; 13 states in a confederation with wildly varying degrees of agreement on the idea of a Federal government, let alone the creation of one. Machinations and orchestrations on all sides to sway the outcome, a distrusted press, and rhetoric that was, shall we say, off the charts. It is really quite notable we are here at all.  But the one unifying theme upon which all could agree was that “We” would not be ruled. The idea of Monarchy; a single person to rule the confederation of states which was to become the United States was abhorrent. It flew in the face of all that was “the cause” of 1776 – Independence. Independence from England; from King George III; from governance without representation; from all that was the slightest whiff of the idea of King; of one man above others; of one who intrinsically knows what is best for us. It is this repugnance of the idea of a sovereign that is at the very core of what it means to be American; it is the belief that pulled us from a disparate set of arguing states into the greatest democratic republic the world has ever seen.

And it is this very issue which I will rail against in the 21^st century with the same fervor as our Founding Fathers; those famer soldiers; those subjects turned citizen patriots. So, the next time you hear someone in the Executive Branch threaten a state which stands for its people, withholds support from a governor based on party; sets the military against the people, or talks of a free press as an enemy, you are hearing the rustlings of one who thinks we are to be ruled. And so, I say to you, which is it? Citizen or Subject? For me, I choose the Spirit of 76, I choose independent thought, I choose citizen.