My Grandfather – a democrat and my role model

This is the fifth part of the Slow Death of a Democrat. The image is a wild horse, mustang, a common sight in the unsettled lands of Northern Nevada, at least it was common once.  The wild horse is often used as a symbol for a life free from human imposed rules, structures and all of the other restrictions that constitute human society.   It is, of course, an idealized vision, the horse is as tied to and restricted by its environment as we are to ours.  However in our mind’s eye, it still appears to be free and reveling in its freedom roaming the hills of Nevada.   Along with the coyote, the wild horse have always been a very personal symbol to me, not just of freedom, but of Nevada and by consequence my grandfather.  More than any other person my grandfather molded my idea of being a man and a man’s place in the world.

My grandfather came to Nevada sometime around the beginning of the 20th century, he left his family farm in North Carolina when he was 13 or 14 years old; he headed west wandering across the country looking for a place that fit his ideal.  It took him several years to reach Carson City, Nevada, meet my grandmother, marry, have children, build a house and start growing the crops that were the fabric of my childhood.  As he told the story he was looking for a place to make his own life, free from the restrictions and expectations of family and the established culture of the east.  He left North Carolina and the south, but he brought his politics with him.  His political party was the Southern Democratic Party.  It was a state’s rights party and for my grandfather, DeWitt Adams, the creed was simple.  Government should have very little to do with private life; but off of his land and in intercourse with his fellow citizens the government had a very clear role, albeit a carefully defined one.  On his land, however, he was free to do what he chose.  He would not come onto your land or try and influence what you did and he expected the same from you.  The land he owned was not large, but large enough to raise the food it took to feed the family he reared and it was enough for him to feel free on it; I spend summers with my grandfather when I was a child and to me he roamed his land much like the mustang or coyote roam theirs and magically I too roamed as freely, that is as long as I did not step on the growing plants.

I was brought up with the same simple beliefs, the ones I learned watching and listening to my grandfather.  Of course, I have long realized that I am neither a wild horse or coyote roaming the wild lands, but I have continued to believe that government should be minimal and forced down to lowest level possible; that means the city is more important to the individual than the state, the state more so than the federal government. And of course the basic unit of government is the individual.  That belief is a two sided sword – it means the individual is free to pursue any course he chooses that does not harm someone else, but it also means he is responsible for all of the outcomes resulting from his behavior.  Responsibility included to and for government and in particular to responsibility to vote with integrity.

In my grandfather’s world, one did not blindly support a party or candidate; first one looked for and recruited candidates one could support, one went to party meetings and argued for and against prospective candidates; after the party chose a candidate one campaigned for the candidate and at the polling station one voted for the candidate and the party.  The debate was everything, you make your best chase and as best you can and then it is put to a vote.  Whatever the outcome, it was then necessary to support those elected – that does not mean agreeing with everything, but the results is the result of a vote – when it is over we must all support it.  The process is all important, almost sacred and it above all things is what makes the democratic system superior to other systems; the period of dissidence is the campaign season, the time before the vote that is the time for debate, honest, sincere and well-reasoned debate – debate intended to serve the public good while protecting the constitution and the rights of the citizens .

Our form of government is one of elected representation – meaning we elect people to represent us in the process of making laws and governing.  And that is another reason that government and the reach of law into private live must have limits, as individuals we do not have the time or resources to attend to all of the activities of government.  The elected representatives have limited roles, limited by constitution, tradition and necessity.   In an ideal elected body the limitations are born-in-mind at all times as they debate new laws and government roles,

That is the position I still held going into 2010, although it certainly has been challenged many, many times in the last 50 years. And it is from that position that I began rethinking my party loyalties and the state of government in general.  Government is constantly moving deeper and deeper into our personal lives, but as threatening in my mind is the state of debate in the houses of lawmaking.  All appear to have forgotten the limitations and their limited roles – there are no debates, simply restatements of party platforms.  The rules of government are suspended on a party pendulum that swings wildly from election to election as the majority party falls out of favor and the minority party takes over.  Their debates are about the party positions, not yours or mine – they have forgotten they were chosen to represent us, so that we could go on with the business of living, while they mind the ship of state and protect our ability to go on with the business of living.