The following is a recap of the radio
show which was recorded on January 9, 2017, and first aired on January 21, 2017
on WBCA-LP 102.9 FM Boston.
Audio Links:
Note, this is not intended to be a
verbatim transcript, but a recap of the highlights, with some further
ponderings, references, and links thrown in. In this case, the blog was written
first, and the radio show was based off it, leading to the follow-on
conversation about Democracy.
SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/rosemary-schmidt-673577789/democracy-schmidthappens20170109-1855
Please feel free to add your
comments/ideas/suggestions for future shows/topics as a comment on this blog
post.
Democracy: It’s All About Showing Up
 |
| Professor Michael Sandel at Faneuil Forum, HUBweek, September 26, 2016 |
 |
| Boston Women's March, January 21, 2017 |
Let’s flash back to Professor Michael
Sandel’s philosophy class on Democracy, this past fall as part of HUBweek 2016,
billed as the Faneuil Forum. As it would turn out, the night of the talk,
September 26, 2016, was also the same night as the first Trump-Clinton
presidential debate, so the discourse at Faneuil Hall wrapped up in time for
attendees to go home and catch the debate as well.
We arrived, my friend and I, after
catching a quick bite to eat in the North End, this time at The Daily Catch,
ordering steamers, served in a buttery bath, and so we floated in, awash and
aglow in a garlicky haze. Yes, we like the other attendees arrived, but did we
show up? That is the question.
Professor Sandel tried to engage the
audience in debate, baiting us with questions intended to challenge us and
offer a response. Two problems: the questions and the audience. We knew the
topic was going to be democracy, but we didn’t expect the questions offered,
plus they seemed a bit contrived and difficult to apply to the real world. The
audience, of course hyper well-educated, was too smart, too cagey to get pulled
into a debate and then talked into a corner by some philosophical wits of
charm, without having done further research into things first and developing a
fully-formed opinion. No one wanted to speak off the cuff, and then be made to
look like a first-class fool in front of the masses. While we were interested,
we were not engaged, and were in no mood to stick our necks out on the line.
The first question posed was whether a
vote-swapping system should be considered acceptable. Huh? Hypothetically, let’s say a voter in
Massachusetts who was for Hillary wanted to influence an election in a swing
state, say New Hampshire, and through some mechanism online perhaps, could
trade votes with someone in New Hampshire, who wanted to influence the election
in Massachusetts.
Most of us were like, “Huh?” As we
tried to picture how such a system would work, we had even more difficulty,
struggling to imagine the motivations for both individuals to go through such
machinations to swap votes. Why would the voter in New Hampshire want to give
up their vote in their home swing state? It made no sense to me, and since it
seemed so hypothetical and unrealistic, it never entered the realm of anything
I would vigorously debate.
Eventually the point was made that
such a system might be the start down the slippery slope of monetizing the
vote. Everyone was pretty much in agreement that selling votes was not right
and should not be allowed. At some point, by the end of this discussion, there
was a passing mention of whether the electoral college should be done away
with, which would make the whole vote-swapping scheme entirely irrelevant. I
remember thinking to myself at the time, now that would be something worth
discussing and debating, and something I could really get behind and support.
One person, one vote. And, for that matter, I thought, why aren’t we talking
about the roughly 40% of eligible voters who don’t show up to the polls at all?
If I had it to do all over again, I
would rush the stage, and rip the microphone from his hand and beg the audience
to debate these questions, and ask, why are we being so proper? Our founding
fathers – and mothers – would be so disappointed in us. They fought so hard for
the right to hold vigorous debate. Democracy is messy, requires hard work, and
hearing all sides.
Looking back at my sparse notes (which
might still smell a bit like garlic), I see written: “Marty Walsh:
obligation.” Mayor Walsh thought that voting was an obligation. Moral
obligation? Civic obligation? I don’t recall. Below that I see my own words:
Precious, priceless.
The discussion moved on to other
topics, questions about public lands, rights and freedoms, the ethics of
parking space savers, fines vs. fees, and refugees.
Bottom line: The audience failed to
show up.
And that’s what happened again in
November.
The lesson should be that the first
and most fundamental principle of democracy is showing up, participating and
engaging in vigorous debate on the issues.
In some ways, a condo association
resembles a democracy on a much scaled-down version. When everything is pretty
much going alright, no one shows up to the meetings.
It is akin to what Azar Nafisi wrote
of in her book The Republic of Imagination:
“This is what Tocqueville warned us
against: a time when Americans would be prosperous and comfortable enough to
withdraw from the public domain and satisfy themselves within their own private
interests.”
The only time people show up en masse
is when something is wrong, or when something is affecting individual owners
personally, such as when it’s raining in one’s living room, and there’s an
assessment levied to fix leaky roofs. While the decisions should be made
fairly, and in the best interest of the entire community, it is easy for the
discussion to be dominated by the loudest voice in the room.
There were some very loud voices in
the room this election season. It is shocking to see the racism and hate-mongering
that has been tapped into and unleashed by the Trump campaign. I see some
photos online of Trump supporters celebrating, carrying signs that read “Make
America White Again,” and “Stop Hate Crime Laws.” At first I thought the sign
read “Stop Hate Crimes,” which would be a good thing, and then I realize that
in fact they are against hate crime laws. Alt-right celebrants were displaying
Nazi salutes at a restaurant in D.C. just doors down from the Holocaust Museum.
These are troubled times indeed.
In some ways, it probably wouldn’t
have mattered which candidate ran against the Democrats, the Republican
candidate would have had the support of the alt-right. However, by not vocally
criticizing or distancing himself from his alt-right supporters, Trump gave
them power, license, legitimacy, and emboldened them.
As one young, very wise black woman
pointed out, this is nothing new. It has always been there, this undercurrent
of racism. The difference now is that they’re out of hiding and we know who
they are. The hoods are off.
I think back on the many times I have
walked or jogged the Battle Road trail in Concord, and have tried to fathom the
depth of the Colonists’ anger. What would drive them to pick up muskets against
their country? The phrase, “taxation without representation” doesn’t seem to do
it justice; it seems just too abstract. I’ve often thought, what would it take,
what would I stand up for, what would I consider worth fighting for? And now I
know, it is this. Freedom to be, to love and marry. For all people to thrive,
regardless of race or religion, to be treated with dignity and respect.
This, all of this, is what I would
stand up for, and march.
Post
March:
What an amazing, historic day. Epic.This is what Democracy looks like.
We showed up.
Ironically, President Trump has
succeeded spectacularly at uniting us in surprising and wonderful ways we never
expected.
There were speeches and songs. America
the Beautiful. Amazing Grace.
Mayor Marty Walsh delivered the most rousing
speech, firing up the crowd, remarking on Massachusetts being the first on healthcare
and same-sex marriage.
Senator Elizabeth Warren received the biggest
welcome from the admiring crowd.
“First we fight for basic human dignity
and respect for all. Second, economic opportunity for everyone.” Senator Ed Markey
spoke, and was followed by several others, difficult to hear everything. Attorney
General Maura Healey was one of the last speakers: “This is what love trumping hate
looks like!”
While waiting for our turn to join the
march, the small group around us sang some songs to pass the time: This Little Light
of Mine, We Shall Overcome, Amazing Grace, This Land is Our land, and Bohemian Rhapsody.
(We were running out of songs we knew the lyrics!)
Fortunate to get to march near the marching
band, and get to sing along with “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
A few of the most interesting signs:
Girls just want to have fun-damental
human rightsOur rights are not up for grabs
Pussy grabs back
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
I’m with her – and her – and her…
This is not a moment, it’s the start of a movement
Post
Script
Thank you to everyone who marched
Saturday January 21st, either in D.C. or in Boston, or any of the
other sister marches. Thank you for showing up.
Thank you to guest host Ellen Iorio
for bringing her unique wit and perspective to the radio show, and adding the
pitch-perfect George Takei quote:
“Our democracy is a people’s
democracy, and it can be as great as the people can be, but it is also as
fallible as the people are.”
In case it was rendered
unrecognizable, the opening chords at the start of the show were from “This
land is Our Land.” There’s nothing like a good song to bring people together.
Look what “Go Cubs Go” did for the Cubs this year!
One last look back at the 2016 World
Series. Congrats to Terry Francona, who was voted Manager of the Year. He was,
and still is, an upstanding guy. While I have joked a bit about the fried
chicken in the clubhouse, if the rumors are true, then this really did show
incredible disrespect for Tito, and for the game. He tried to set a collegial tone and give his
players a lot of leash, and this is what he got in return.
It’s not like this in rugby. Everyone
shows up and is engaged. One of the plays that sticks in my memory came in a
B-side game against our cross-town rivals, Boston Women, sometime in say 1995
or so. I had been working out of town the week prior, so I was even a bit
surprised that I was selected to play. It seemed like every time we got the
ball, something would happen and we would lose momentum. While it was just a
B-side game, there is really no such thing as “just” a game in rugby ever.
You’re either all in, or you’re all out. I remember starting to feel so
frustrated. We’d had the ball, and then it got turned over and the Boston
player was about to kick, and I remember thinking in my head, “No, not again,”
and I went up and blocked the kick, all five-foot-two of me. It was at such
close range, it bounced off me, and propelled me backward to the ground. We
wound up with a scrum, instead of having the ball kicked deep into our own
territory. A couple of the A-side players came out to check on how I was, since
they had been following the game along the sidelines and cheering us on. Not
off having fried chicken, if you get my point here. There was none of that; not
until all the games were done for the day anyway. We were all in, and in it for
each other.
About
WBCA-LP 102.9 FM Boston:
WBCA-LP is a low-power FM radio
station sponsored by the Boston Neighborhood Network, and is on the air from 6
PM to 2 AM each night.
Radio Beantown is on the air! Jumana
Hashim is a current member of Beantown Women’s Rugby Club, while Rosemary, aka
Rosebud, Schmidt has been retired a few years.
References
Nafisi, Azar. 2014. The Republic of Imagination: A Life in Books.
New York: Penguin Books.
©
2017 Rosemary A. Schmidt
Rose
Schmidt is the author of “Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life” (Gainline
Press 2004). The views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do
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