When we think about how to interpret our democracy, it often is described as a two-horse race between what we now call the Left and the Right, with no room for a third option or any sort of dissent.
However, as our nation has surpassed 250 years of age, perhaps it is time for reflection on our system and time to look back to try and understand why we think we are stuck in this system and why we still conform to it to this day.
One of the earliest documents describing our livelihood that was not the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution was Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, and this is where I believe a lot of us should re-read his work to understand where we came from.
We are a nation that was founded in liberty and the rights of the individual, so individualistic in fact that European scholars like Tocqueville simply couldn’t grasp why we were the way we are and how our society was stable.
But beyond that, there is the fact that we are equal and that we have the freedom of expression and choice unlike any other nation in the world, and we have never given up that right.
So let’s stop simply delegating ourselves to two major parties and two national fights and bring ourselves back down to the individual issues that we face.
Let’s be citizens of Montgomery County for Montgomery County focused on our local issues, not national ones.
Kyle Bowman
New Richmond
