By Scott Nesler
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Lastnight I was awakened by a dream planted by the words of Stephen Breyer's book named Making a Democracy. I had the dream that one day this nation rose up and lived out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I had the dream of the river banks of Alton, where the sons of unemployed factory workers sat down together at the table of brotherhood. I had the dream where even the people of Missouri, the individuals drowning in the waves of obscurity, drowning in the depths of oppression, were rescued by the shoreline of freedom, justice, and opportunity. I had the dream! |
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In this dream there was a vision of Elijah Lovejoy's printing press emerging from the receding water of the Mississippi River. Within the remaining typeset, the prophecy was stated, "Freedom is in the words of the common man".
I had the dream!
I had the dream where political posturing was replaced with individuals who put their best effort into developing civil answers within their community. I had the dream of a country where majority participation overcame the injustice of a privilege few. A dream where Americans saw the solutions to social dilemma within their hands and not at the feet of the ruling class.
I had the dream where each citizen understood their role in society. A role not assuming one's perspective was best or that attention could be commanded. In this dream the farmer, fisherman, and bricklayer were supported by fellow citizens in expressing a solution to the benefit of all. Failure was not an end in this dream, it was a beginning, it was an opportunity to refine thought for a second, third, or umteen chance to reach consensus for a civil solution.
I had the dream!
A dream where technology replaced turpitude with justice, honesty, and good moral character. In this technology democracy trumped the bias of a controlling media. In this dream the merits of an argument decides who, where, and when the thought was viewed, not the CEO, not the publisher, and not the authority of the powers that be.
I had the dream lastnight!
And when this dream almost became reality, when we almost allowed freedom to ring, when it almost rang from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, the day almost came where all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, Muslims and Hindus and Buddhist, Democrat and Republican, Liberal and Conservative nearly joined hands to sing the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank GodAlmighty, we are free at last!
