Dear Buddy,
Long time, no see. Since I last touched base with you, democracy was kidnapped off the street, put in handcuffs, and hauled off by both National Guard and Marines. Lawyers are frantically working to ensure it doesn’t get shipped off to El Salvador, or some place with an active volcano.
The people rose up across the country and all 50 states—yes, even the Republican ones—in protest at democracy’s treatment. Why people even showed up in your district, which is kind of ironic, considering you never do.
Why all of the protests?
You see, we’re used to the National Guard showing up when our homes flood or get burned down to the ground, and we’re vulnerable and scared, and they look like saviors sent from on high to help us try to return to normalcy. They find us in the debris and they rescue us from rivers and bring us food and water and comfort.
We’re not used to seeing National Guard surround a bevy of masked government agents in street clothes, themselves surrounding a single frightened man, or young child screaming in terror.
Of course, the National Guard troops aren’t used to it, either. They’re used to being welcomed with open arms—and pizza—not cold stares and terrified tears. I have a suspicion they don’t like it and may rethink their membership in the Guard because of it.
As for the Marines, well…the photo of a US citizen being detained by Marines looks familiar. Didn’t I see the same thing in photos in Pravda? I’m sure it must have been some Russian newspaper or another, because I know I’ve certainly never seen anything like that here, in the United States.
Active duty soldiers being turned loose on the people in this country. The idea is so outlandish, I’m sure it will become the plot of some book or movie. Probably one that doesn’t have a happy ending.
Before I continue with improbable movie plots, I did hear you’re running to be Senator of our state. I find this a little odd, though. I mean, if you find it so hard to meet with people in your smaller Congressional district, how are you going to meet with the people of the entire state? And I don’t think showing up at luncheons for Republican women really counts, do you?
But I digress…this isn’t about your political chances, or thoughts of hell freezing over. This is about democracy. The small ‘d’ kind. The kind that once upon a time, it seemed both parties supported. Oh, the parties had differences of opinions on exactly what the support entailed, but I’m pretty sure that activating 4000 National Guard and 700 Marines because of a couple of hundred protestors was not on anyone’s Bingo card.
What happened to you, Buddy, so that you’d turn a blind eye to all of this? Are you so lost in reaching for political power that you forgot that with great power comes great responsibility?
Oh darn, now I know that last line was from some book or movie, but I don’t care, because it’s true: power must be tempered by responsibility.
The power of a leader is not in how much money they get, or how many tanks they can roll down the street; it’s not measured in numbers of federal employees fired, or scared hardworking immigrants sent to torture chamber in another country; it’s certainly not measured in how many American people can be cowered or suppressed. The power of a leader is how much of a force for good they are for the people as a whole. Not just some people, not just rich people, not just people of one race and religion, and not just people who belong to a certain party.
To all of us.
Buddy, I want you to listen carefully to what I say, because it’s more important than introducing bills to create a committee of 13 people whose sole purpose is to investigate the mental health of a man who is no longer President.
The true power of a leader is directly proportional to the people’s own power over that leader. A truly great leader is a servant, not a king.
