Democracy at stake

Einstein’s word for the constant motion of heavenly bodies, seen and unseen, with no orderliness, was “entanglement.” Worldwide scientific agreement has followed. My thoughts upon seeing pictures of the craziness of balls and lines and stars and stuff in constant movement in the heavens were that Earth with all of her people rushing dizzily might also be described as entanglement.

Maybe entanglement is a basic core of human existence. From the beginning, there seems to have been love and hate, peace and war, good and evil, happiness and sorrow, rich and poor, powerful and weak, black and white. In the USA, we now add red and blue. What mankind has done to rise above smoothing these either/ or realities hasn’t seemed to change over the centuries. But a sincere effort was made in July 1776 when Thomas Jefferson, on behalf of America, wrote that “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that [we] should declare the causes which impel [us] to the separation” (from England).

Hence, the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed… .” Full grievances and expectations follow.

Common sense was expected. A respect of all people was to be offered, but it was slow to come for women and now for Black people. While traits such as integrity, justice, truthfulness, and fairness were hoped to dominate in the new world, I’m sure our forefathers had enough savvy of human nature not to expect perfection. Laws were created to correct wrongdoings. I write this because I hope we the people should best perceive the entanglement we are experiencing now. The health of democracy is at stake.

JUDITH BAUM North Little Rock