When I was a kid, I asked my Dad what the word “society” meant. He said that it meant “other people”. What I didn’t realize is that he was making an observational commentary. While the dictionary meaning is “community (that includes ourselves)”, he was implying that, in common use, people want someone else to take responsibility. People complain that “society needs to address the issue of crime,” or whatever upsetting social issue we aren’t happy with. Instead of saying “society” we should be saying “we”, or if we’re really brave use the word “I”. As in, I need to step up and do something.

Another word I hear people constantly complain about is “government” as if it’s an entity unrelated to ourselves. Currently, I live in America were most adults are free to both vote for our representation and complain about it.* There are places in the world were lots of people can do neither.

Our American society is nearly split down the middle about how “government” should be done. Every other election seems to swing power from one side to the other: blue, red, blue, red. When the non-preferred side wins, the other side gets mad at the “government.” What they fail to fully comprehend is the current winner represents the will of the majority of voters. Or maybe they/we do, and just don’t like it. Right now a former President is in a legal struggle over his and his supporters reaction to the 2020 election. They could not believe that those were the actual results. I get it, because I had the exact same feeling in 2016. “That guy!?” Of course, nobody stormed the capital in ‘16, so it’s not exactly the same. By threatening the governor of Georgia to “find more votes” or physically trying to prevent congress from formalizing the election, they were undermining our method of voting for governance instead of literal fighting. Democracy feels best when it goes your way, but can you sidestep it, or burn it down when it doesn’t? Do we want to chose leadership by an unending series of wars, coups, intrigue and assassinations? That’s how some places do it and from the looks of it, nobody’s having a good time.

By default, forcing the will of a minority over the majority is a type of tyranny. I am not saying our version of Democracy is perfect and not everyone has always had equal access to the ballot**, but I feel like we’re getting closer, and we need to see this through because democracy is too precious to give up.

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*If we’re really brave, we can also throw our hat in the ring and try to convince others we are capable enough to be in charge. Everyone wants to win, but few people want the responsibility of making everyone else happy.

**Our version of majority-rule has mistreated minorities. The US codified the 3/5 human value of slaves just a decade after the Declaration of Independence was ratified, and let’s not forget women (half of Americans) couldn’t vote until the last century. Some states currently use felonies to prevent up to 10% of minorities from accessing the polls.