Ninety percent of the time it does not matter whether more than ten people read my blog. Friends look at it, and the effort put toward submitting a weekly entry is excellent writing practice. Those two not insignificant benefits are enough to keep me going. Occasionally, however, I write on a subject that makes me wish I had a bigger audience, and today is such a case.
I just read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily email letter, and she wrote that representatives from all but one of the Presidential Centers since Herbert Hoover issued a joint statement expressing their concerns about the fate of American democracy. Their letter places no blame. It just says:
“Each of us has a role to play and responsibilities to uphold. Our elected officials must lead by example and govern effectively in ways that deliver for the American people. This, in turn, will help to restore trust in public service. The rest of us must engage in civil dialogue; respect democratic institutions and rights; uphold safe, secure, and accessible elections; and contribute to local, state, or national improvement.”*
On the same morning that I read about the joint statement, I also came across multiple New York Times editorials about my state legislature’s attempt to oust our newly elected Wisconsin Supreme Court judge. The only reason that the Republican supermajority would go after this woman is because she is a liberal judge who will hear a court case questioning the gerrymandering that gave the Republicans their supermajority in the first place. This action is shameless and an example of why the Presidential joint statement is important. I hold out hope that a handful of conservative legislators have enough conscience and spine to not let an unjustified suspension of the judge happen.
I almost did not sign up for Heather Cox Richardson’s daily online letter. I already receive too many unsolicited messages in my email account. If she provides me with even one gem of information each month as important as the one she just gave me about the joint statement, perusing her letters is time well spent. I did look to see whether the joint letter was covered by my regular online news sources, and I discovered it was a minor back page news item in most of them. The New York Times, for example, had it on page 9. Since the Times did such a good job highlighting the proposed undemocratic actions of the Wisconsin legislature, I’ll give them a pass on this one.
- I assume the joint letter appears in several places. Heather Cox Richardson cited the George W. Bush Institute as her source, and that’s where I found it (https://www.bushcenter.org/publications/reaffirming-americans-commitment-to-a-more-perfect-union). The one Center that did not join the others was the Eisenhower Foundation, stating they declined because they’d not had a part in drafting the letter.
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