The Ecology of Democracy

                In the 70’s when environmental issues were starting to take hold, one of the regulations that was passed was that wetlands had to be preserved.  When the federal government planned to run a highway through a wetland in Nebraska, they offered to create a new wetland to replace the one that would be filled in during construction.  Everyone thought that was cool, and the project commenced.  The highway was built, and the new wetland was created.  To everyone’s surprise, the wetland failed.  It didn’t sustain a bird population or keep the food chain intact.  After several attempts, they finally figured out that a small and seemingly unimportant microbe was missing.  Without it, everything else collapsed.  The lesson was that an ecology is a fragile and complex system that needs all its parts to function.  The same is true for a democracy.

                Trump has decided that the way forward in his reelection campaign is to destroy the ecology of American democracy.  Having no accomplishments or policies to run on, he has turned to the old puritan ideals of exclusion.  A democracy is an inherently impure and dynamic creation.  Like a wetland, its structure is complex and multiple.  All of us are worse off when any part of that complex system is removed or compromised.  If we thought of diversity that way instead of as a conflict of interests, maybe we could begin to understand what a radical democracy is all about.  For too long, we have ignored the value of alternative perspectives.  The Republican party of the 21^st century has given up on the idea that this should be an inclusive society or even a democratic one.  The remedy for that is an ecological inspiration.

                Formal democracy seems static.  The buildings look like Greek and Roman artifacts, and the institutions that run a formal democracy are built on laws and regulations that have to be followed.  One of the shocking insights from Trump’s presidency is how vulnerable that kind of democracy is to shameless lawlessness and ineptitude.  When one side quits playing the game, there is nothing the other side can do to enforce the rules.  A radical democracy is based on something more resilient: the relationships of the people.  We are faced with a challenge of how much we value each other and how much we are willing to sacrifice for each other.  The answer to impending tyranny is not rebellion so much as it is love.  We have to care enough about each other to stand up even when we’re not in the direct line of fire, even when our personal interests aren’t involved.

                A public sphere may seem external, but the motivating energy has to be internal.  A radical democracy will not grow out the interactions of a cynical and fragmented people.  It cannot be sustained by a court or a legislature alone.  All of that depends on an internal ethos, a microbe if you will, that knits the communities of people together.  We do not have to be like each other to care about each other.  We need an ecology of democracy that recognizes the expanse and the limits of our connections.  The more diversity and innovation there is, the better off we all are.  Healthy children in other neighborhoods are good neighbors and maybe even potential partners.  An intellectual, cultural and genetic mix is stronger and healthier than any pure strain standing alone.

                We share this crumbling planet.  The children crying at the border are our children.  They are crying to call us to action.  We cannot fix this locked in our isolated communities.  If what Trump and the other autocrats around the world stand for is not defeated, we all die.  Thinking ecologically is thinking democratically.  We are going to have to think through what it means to have ‘wealth.’  The systems we’ve built are too big and powerful to allow them to reproduce unchecked.  The potential is great, but the risks are even greater.  We now have proof that not everyone wants this to work.  It’s time to stand up against those forces and join hands.  A war will only hasten the end.  It can’t be won.  We can rise together and try to create a richer and fairer world.  The only political ecology with any promise at all is a radical democracy.