Democracy is threatened by our silence

Neal Ferguson, Reno

Thursday, March 24, 2011 | 2:04 a.m.

Where was I when we abandoned the draft and went to the all-volunteer Army? I was quiet. I put aside my belief that it was the parents of draftees who had kept the “hawks” honest. I didn’t understand the necessary connection between the common defense and the common, democratic responsibility to serve the nation. Now we have an army of the poor and less politically potent. Democracy is the loser.

Where was I when we abandoned the belief that progressive taxation was good? I was quiet. I put aside my belief that we live in a society built on the notion that those who want to get rich may try, but also that they live in and are part of a social contract in which the common welfare is equally as important. Now we have created a political environment that feeds on the poor and unprotected and threatens democracy in the name of low taxes.

Where was I when we when we abandoned the belief that public education is a fundamental prerequisite to a functioning democracy? I was quiet. I deluded myself into believing that our governor wouldn’t really attack public education, that he wasn’t playing cynical political games, that he wouldn’t, in the name of even lower taxes, want to divert precious tax money to nonpublic schools.

Make no mistake: Democracy is threatened. The real elite, those with serious money and quiet power, are chuckling to themselves about our gullibility and quiescence.

The writer is a history professor at UNR.