"Women are Persons!" monument in Ottawa, Canada 
Reading: from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton
It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.
Translation: Americans need to decide- do we want to have a voice and a vote, or shall we leave things to accident and might makes right?
If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind…
Translation: How we vote (or don’t vote) now might make things crappy for everyone- because other countries are watching what we do.
Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will … hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country...
Translation: some people don’t want to give up their power and are in it only for themselves. They hope to confuse us into voting their way
A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.
Translation: Some people with dangerous ambitions speak passionately for the rights of people, fewer people speak passionately for an effective government
History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.
Translation: Be careful who you listen to, history teaches us that sometimes people who say with great passion that they stand for the rights of people end up acting like kings.
Reflection:
When Alexander Hamilton wrote those stirring words urging the adoption of the US constitution, At the time of the founding of this country, the ideals of democracy and the ideals of Unitarianism were surprisingly intertwined. Unitarians were swept up with zeal of having a radical new way of governing with equality for… more. A surprising number of Unitarians and Universalists were involved in the drafting of the Declaration if Independence and the constitution of this country.[i] It should not be surprising then that the 5th of our 7 UU principles is "The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large" or sometimes we say “all persons should have a vote about the things that concern them”
But in recent years, our UU movement has wanted to be honest about who got left out of our founding documents. Even at the time of our founding, the constitution denied the right to vote to women, people of color, and anyone who didn’t own property. Some estimate that only %20 of adult citizens could vote in those early elections![ii]
I was raised to have great faith in our democratic ideals, watching the moral arc of the universe bending toward justice. By the time I was in school we had secured the vote for women, and the voting rights acts of the 1960s had greatly expanded voting access for people of color. But in recent years I began to wake up to the ways that our system still makes voting easier for some people than for others, and to realize that democracy always fell short of that idealistic dream for many of our American siblings. Our new UU values statement was developed in conversation among UUs for several years beginning in 2020, and we put our principles into action by including many voices in the process. In an early version of our new UU values, the word Democracy had disappeared, no doubt because for some that word was a symbol of how the system had failed. And it seems that folks who have very different political beliefs than me have also lost confidence in democracy, wondering if maybe fascism wouldn’t be better- they are wondering if it wouldn’t be better to let the powerful be powerful and fix this mess.
I spoke up at one of those UU Values discussions, saying “this is not the time for us to give up on the word democracy. I understand there is a lot that needs fixing in the way our republic works (or doesn’t work) but this moment of rising fascism, is not the time to give up on democracy, even as we acknowledge that our democracy is at times aspirational. It is ours not only to defend but to transform until truly every “person has a vote in things that concern them." Other folks must have felt the same way because the final form of our UU values statement now says :
Justice: We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all feel welcome and can thrive.Our fore parents fought for this democracy because they knew the downside of living under a monarchy, yet this is where some seem bound. It seems that here in America the moral arc of the universe is bending away from justice, or certainly away form democracy. In recent years money has become political speech (with the Supreme court’s Citizen’s united decision) The gains we had achieved in voting rights are being chipped away at, taking us back to a more unjust time. Recently our courts affirmed that even the most egregious gerrymandering is legal. We are teetering on an edge, as we find out (in Hamilton’s words):
We work to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large.”
“whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.”When we go to vote this year, we vote not only for the people and polices we think can make a difference in our country, but we are also voting for Democracy itself. No matter what happens in this election, the act of voting is one of the most important ways we can co-create a government that gives everyone a voice and a vote.
Between voter suppression and gerrymandering, those who want to preserve democracy must vote in greater numbers than that necessary to achieve a simple majority. We know that in close races with hanging chads, we can’t count on today’s courts to keep their fingers off the scales of justice. So we must vote in great waves of voter participation. Consider the rise of authoritarianism in Hungary- Orban was a difficult person to defeat, but this April after 16 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, the people of Hungary showed up in droves and voted to defeat Orban 57% to 37%[iii] - a decisive victory where Orban could not “find a few more votes” to put himself over the top.
This will not be the only election to preserve democracy, the fabric that has been torn and frayed will take many years to mend, and to re-weave into a fully inclusive government. But I’m very passionate about voting this year because I’m concerned that the gerrymandering and voter suppression will only spread if we don’t push back. I feel I must take a stand now in any way I can so that leaders won’t be able to set aside election results they don’t like. I’ve decided to vote early on Thursday, when Eric and Nick and I are all off work; we’ve made a plan to go together, and hug our local poll info on the refrigerator. We’ve decided to go out for mocktails afterwards to celebrate the act of voting. I hope that you too will make a plan to vote, will maybe invite a friend, or give a neighbor a ride to the polling place.
As you prepare to vote, if you get to feeling cynical, like your vote won’t matter, I encourage you to think of all those activists who were part of the civil rights movement who were beaten or jailed for trying to vote, who fought tirelessly to remove barriers to voting. It was during the fight for voting rights after that historic 5 day voting march from Selma that Dr. King stood on a truck bed in front of the Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama, and spoke those iconic words "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." And in 1965 after the 57 days of protest as the senate filibustered the voter rights act, the bill became law, and 250,000 new black voters were registered to vote in the American south[iv]. This year, when you cast your ballot, think of those 250,000 brand new voters casting their first ballot – do it for them.
When you prepare to vote this year, if you get to feeling cynical, I encourage you to remember Esther Morris, how hard she worked to get the right for women to vote in her community. How proud I felt when I read her story this morning, imagining what it was like for her to cast her first ballot.
As you prepare to vote this year, consider all those whose right to vote has been denied. I encourage you to hold in your heart the image of who you are doing it for- perhaps Esther Morris, perhaps those who marched from Selma to Montgomery, perhaps a new American citizen voting for the first time. And let the act of voting be a prayer, for them, for our country, and for our deep belief that everyone deserves a voice and a vote in things that concern them.
