Where there is life, there is hope.

I do not know where this post’s title comes from — it’s so old that it has entered the public domain. According to some websites it is from Cicero, translated into English in the 1500s.

Is this true?

[small digression: I distinguish between “truth” which is a useful and generalizable sensibility that perhaps not everyone shares, and “fact” which is a repeatable phenomenon, readily observed by anyone.]

Right now, the republic that I was born into, the modern democratic processes that I grew up with, are endangered. However, there are still enough people who believe in the basic principles (“truths”) laid out in the Constitution; still enough people who are speaking out and showing up; still enough laws and lawmakers that are established and supportive of the conventional mechanisms that I believe this nation may yet be saved.

Unlike the last time tyrants and fascists began their march across a continent, there continues to be sufficient media and public discussion that groups can organize and respond in positive ways to an overreach of the government.

This is my belief: It is based on my experiences, my hopes and fears, my knowledge and training. It may or may not be factual! I do believe, however, that where there are enough adults who remember their civics lessons on the importance of public action and democratic participation that this nation can retrieve its reputation and become again a welcoming, forward-looking, progress-enabling home.