A novel… a raft of hope, perception, and entertainment that might help us keep afloat as we try to negotiate the snags and whirlpools that mark our nation’s vacillating course toward and away from the democratic ideal. – Ralph Ellison, introduction to 1981 edition of The Invisible Man (1952).
“Words on Paper” is a metaphor for a response to the drawbacks of the Postmodern Era and the digital age. It looks forward to a restoration of values such as truth, trust, credibility, faith, and hope, yet seasoned with honest questions and skepticism, or a sort of informed or wise naiveté – the so-called Metamodern Era. Post topics include philosophy, faith, history, and current events. Of course, you are reading this on a screen, which symbolizes the synthesis of the Postmodern and Metamodern Eras, appreciating the best of both, words printed on paper or on a screen. I hope you enjoy reading these! If you have any questions or comments, please respond. Thanks! – Forrest
The ‘state fair’ of agriculture – Food, farming, stewardship can bridge cultural, ideological differences
Minnesota gubernatorial candidates at the Minnesota FarmFest candidate forum Aug. 5, (L-R): Amy Klobuchar, Lisa Demuth, Mike Lindell, Kendall Qualls.
With all the contentiousness these days among issues involving politics, economics, and culture including religion, one area of finding common ground could be food. We all need to eat, which brings us eventually to agriculture.
Throughout all of human existence since the beginnings of agriculture, no matter how tumultuous the world becomes in wars, conflict, and famine, raising crops and livestock have persevered. And, so far anyway, digital technology has not replaced the soil, water, and sunlight necessary for that. Nor will it, except for providing useful tools to manage agriculture.
Among people living in cities today, fewer have direct ties to farms and agriculture than in the past. Growing up in a small city in farm country, I really didn’t know much about farming. That changed somewhat the day I learned as a young teenager the difference between the left and right brake on a tractor.
I was hired for a few days to help a local farmer bale hay. He told me to drive the tractor towing a fully laden hay rack over to a distant barn. When I told him that I had never driven a tractor before, he showed me how and sent me on my way.
An old tractor has two brake pedals, one for the left main wheel and one for the right. Slowing the tractor for a lefthand turn, I pressed the right brake. The tractor nearly tipped over and would have sent the load of hay bales into the ditch. Telling the farmer about that later, he said the little lever that connects the two brakes was not deployed. My short baling career ended, but I can at least say that I once worked on a farm.
Later in life we rented a small farmsite surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans. We raised a few sheep, had a big garden, and took care of some horses. We became part of the local community, although our neighbors lived a mile or more away.
Face-to-face at FarmFest
Once at a local farm show, as I was giving a presentation about environmental regulations involving agriculture, a man spoke up in criticism of ‘city people who don’t know anything’ about farming. In response, I reminded him that city people are your customers. Maybe farm and city people could become better acquainted.
One opportunity for doing that occurred this week at a large farm show in central Minnesota. In past attempts to describe Minnesota FarmFest, I have compared it with the state fair – it’s the state fair of agriculture. It attracts about 30,000 attendees and 400-500 vendors to a 50-acre site adjacent to the Gilfillan Estate near Redwood Falls.
During election years FarmFest puts on a big show at the candidates’ forum. With governor, U.S. Senate and congressional races underway, the large meeting pavilion was packed with mostly rural folk listening to candidates. Wednesday I covered the U.S. Senate candidate forum for a story in MinnPost.
For a number of years, I was among the vendors at Minnesota FarmFest. As a public information officer for the state’s environmental protection agency, I assembled an exhibit about water and air quality issues involving agriculture. While many farmers held negative views about the MPCA (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency), being there in person greatly reduced the antagonism and increased mutual understanding.
Farmers who stopped by the exhibit, sometimes with a complaint about the regulations, seemed to appreciate the opportunity to talk with someone from ‘the government’. We listened to their concerns, and at the same time, we learned more about agriculture and the challenges that farmers face. It’s less likely that one will demonize the other when you are meeting in person.
Stewardship
One theme that I endeavored to convey was the idea of stewardship. You use the natural resource in a manner that protects and conserves. The human responsibility to care for and cultivate the earth and all creation goes back to the Old Testament in Genesis, and probably farther back than that in earlier religious traditions.
Some farmers have the notion that environmentalists want to revert the land to prairie and grazing buffalo. That’s fine in some areas, but we still need crops. The middle ground is using conservation techniques that conserve and build soil and prevent excessive runoff. (See my July 31, 2025 post, “Down to earth – Living with healthy soil is a gut-level experience).
An interesting perspective on the urban-rural divide comes from academic research, stating that it occurs more among white people, and is less prevalent among non-whites. “Over the past 30 years, the American political landscape has been characterized by a growing divide between rural and urban voters,” states an article in the Cornell Chronicle. “But the divide is largely confined to white Americans.”
One reason for this could be the relatively large number of Latinos working in agricultural production and processing. Beginning with migrant workers in the mid-20th century, to the majority of workers at large dairies and slaughterhouses today, Latinos and now east Africans dominate the labor force.
The largest farm show in the U.S. could be Farm Progress, Sept. 1-3, 2026, in Boone, IA, with more than 600 exhibitors and well over 100,000 attendees. Not far to the west, the Dakota Fest Aug. 18-20 in Mitchell, SD, will draw about 400 exhibitors and 26,000-29,000 attendees. Either of these, or the Minnesota Farmfest next year, would make a very worthwhile day trip.
A bonus at the latter is a chance to visit the Gilfillan Farm historic site. After seeing all the exhibits, you can relax under large shade trees, listen to polka music, and enjoy a root beer float with homemade ice cream, all not much different than it was more than a century ago.
Furrher reading
At the local library doing some belated research, in the online card catalog under Topics, I entered ‘agriculture’. Not far down the list of books, the name of Wendell Berry caught my eye. I checked out his 1977 book, The Unsettling of America – Culture and Agriculture. I had heard of Berry, a very prolific author, from a former colleague, but knew little else.
About the book, ChatGPT says it “argues that the health of a nation depends on the health of its land, its farming communities, and its moral culture. Wendell Berry contends that modern industrial agriculture has separated people from the land, prioritizing efficiency, profit, and technology over stewardship, community, and ecological balance.” A PBS documentary, “Look and See – Wendell Berry’s Kentucky,” first aired in 2018 PBS.
In another recent discovery about rural America in the news, I learned from a colleague about The Daily Yonder. It “provides news, commentary, and analysis about and for rural America.” National in scope, it appears to offer high-quality reporting about the vast portion of the nation often missed by East and West Coast news media. I hope to read more about Berry and follow The Yonder, perhaps in time for another post around fall harvest. So far this year, the crops look really good.
The hockey stick economy – Reforms following Gilded Age in peril from today’s wealth disparity
Pond hockey in the 1950s, when winter had good ice and many families were middle class, enjoying benefits from the reforms of the Progressive Era. Today, a hockey stick-shaped graph shows the wealth disparity between mid-century and now.
On summer evenings I often enjoy sitting out on the deck and reading. This past week, in the stifling heat reading The Jungle, that has occurred more with determination than relaxation. The hot weather we have been experiencing is nothing compared with the working conditions in the Chicago packing houses around 1900.
In The Jungle, after many misfortunes, Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, found work in the fertilizer plant, which processed all of the waste material: “Working in his shirt sleeves, and with the thermometer at over a hundred, the phosphates soaked in through every pore of Jurgis’ skin, and in five minutes he had a headache, and if fifteen was almost dazed…” Reading this made the humid, 90-degree air feel less onerous.
Working outdoors in the extreme heat remains unpleasant and even difficult, but at least today workers benefit from efforts to deal with harsh working conditions. Much of the improvement came about from early 20th century reform efforts and growth of labor unions. I spent many hours working on loading docks in hot weather, but we could take breaks in an air-conditioned lunchroom, thanks to the Teamsters Union. That would have been unheard of for Jurgis.
In his introduction to The Jungle in 2006, Ron Gottesman writes, “Efficiency, competitiveness, and materialism, Sinclair showed, were worshipped at great social cost. The Jungle revealed dramatically the consequences of the convergence of the rapid spread of technology, the flood of immigration, the urbanization of the population, the centralization of finance, and the domination of government by business.”
Those factors are still with us. In just a few decades the wealth and impact of digital technology have gone stratospheric. Without immigrants, much of health care, construction, and agricultural processing would stall. Digital billionaires run the economy, big banks control finance, and many politicians have become too susceptible to corporate lobbyists, and out-of-touch with their constituents.
Hockey stick economy
Little did I know, playing pond hockey in the late 1950s and early 1960s, that the hockey stick in my hand would become a metaphor for wealth distribution today. Although we didn’t know it at the time, wealth was a bit more evenly distributed in mid-century. A substantial portion of society could claim membership in the middle class.
What we are seeing today almost seems like a replay of the Gilded Age – late 19th and early 20th centuries – where a small portion of society held extreme wealth. Today we have tech and other corporate billionaires holding vast and increasing wealth, while many wage earners are struggling.
In the 1950s a corporate CEO earned about ten to twenty times more than the average hourly worker. Estimates today place the ratio around 300 to 1. Reasons for that include growth of large multinational corporations, growth in stock market valuations, and greater use of stock options in executive pay. This greatly outpaced hourly wage workers, who have seen no comparative increase over those decades.
In the metaphor, a graph would resemble a hockey stick. The tall handle of the hockey stick represents the wealth of a few, while the blade is the large majority of the population with little or no wealth. And as in the days of The Jungle, this disparity underlies a growing public sentiment that is more favorable to socialism platforms and candidates.
While many Americans recoil at the word, they forget that ideals and values of socialism brought us fair wages, decent working hours, worker’s compensation, workplace safety, Social Security, Medicare, labor unions and other benefits. How hourly workers today can follow a leader whose party is trying to trash those is beyond my understanding.
Roosevelt to the rescue
Fortunately for America in the Gilded Age, the tide turned when Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901. A progressive Republican, he drove reforms that curbed the corruption and power of the economic elite and improved the lives of workers, who for the most part today still benefit from those reforms, and we take them for granted.
Visting Mount Rushmore in the past, I sometimes wondered why Roosevelt’s face was there. Everyone knows about Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, and their place in our nation’s history. Learning more about Roosevelt, it becomes easier to understand why. By sheer effort, personality, and political skill he brought back America closer to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. That, and his time in the Dakotas, and his conservation efforts.
If we happen to be in the neighborhood again, high on the itinerary would be a visit to the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library at Medora, ND. Previously, we greatly enjoyed visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The natural scenery around Medora and the Badlands makes the long drive across North Dakota worth the effort. It was a factor in Roosevelt’s time there becoming a cowboy and helping to cope with the death of his first wife, Alice, 22, and his mother, who died on the same day in 1884.
As president, Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service, five national parks, and placed about 230 million acres of land under public protection. An excellent documentary about Roosevelt by Lucasfilm is available on YouTube. His progressive legacy continued among many Republican politicians into the mid-century.
Today there is a progressive resurgence, fueled by the same inequities and injustices that plagued the Gilded Age. Let’s hope that the gilding occurring today is limited to the garish, gold décor now being inflicted on the White House – the peoples’ house. We look forward to the day when the next occupant will remove the gold trash and restore it to its previous elegance, and restore and strengthen the reforms initiated by an author and a president more than a century ago.
It’s a jungle out there – Government regulation an essential ingredient for food safety
Left: Hokey Pokey caramel corn, $9.98 per pound. Right: Penguin Books cover of “The Jungle,” 1906 novel by Upton Sinclair.
Grocery shopping the other day I succumbed to an impulse purchase. Just before checking out, a 15-oz. bag of Hokey Pokey Caramel Corn was calling my name. Interesting how stores display that sort of stuff near the check-out, tempting our craving of sugar.
At $9.98 per bag, the price rivaled those at the meat counter. In that section earlier I had been tempted to get some beef for grilling. Too expensive, I muttered, almost in earshot of the meat counter guy. He looked at me as if he knew my thoughts.
Such ponderous decisions also awaited us in the produce department. Even if it were free, we would think twice about tossing a head lettuce into the cart. Fortunately, the store offers some local produce in which we have more confidence that it will not give us diarrhea.
Even better, we are now harvesting peas, cucumbers, parsley and zucchini from our own garden, and soon, tomatoes and sweet corn. The trade-off, of course, is that in going to the grocery store for everything, you avoid the physical labor of gardening, which I really don’t mind and sometimes even enjoy. (See my June 11 post: “The nature of things – Amid weather and human turmoil, farms and gardens sustain our bodies and souls”).
Despite the lettuce crisis, we remain confident that the food we purchase and consume from grocery stores and restaurants is free of contaminants or at least carry an amount insufficient to make us ill. We take it for granted, thanks to the efforts of reform-minded and responsible leaders more than a century ago.
Progressive reform
One hundred twenty years ago, on June 30, 1906, Congress enacted the Pure Food and Drugs and Meat Inspection Act, signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive Republican. It laid the foundation for consumer safety and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
Today we can go grocery shopping confident that the food we purchase will be safe to eat, if not always healthy – too much sugar, salt, fat, etc. Much of the credit for that goes to an author, Upton Sinclair, and his novel, The Jungle.
A bit like The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck for the Depression Era, The Jungle portrays the trials and tribulations of an immigrant family in Chicago amid the horrific conditions in a meat-packing plant, producing often tainted products and suffering workers. The novel was an immediate sensation. Despite Sinclair’s strident advocacy of socialism, Roosevelt promised to investigate the charges.
A recent purchase from Barnes and Noble, my copy of The Jungle awaits being entirely read. Perhaps I am reluctant as the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his family is not pleasant, as is much of the news these days. The themes remain the same: Wealth, greed, power, corruption, injustice. According to a Sparknotes summary, “the novel ends with the optimistic declaration that political change through socialism can transform society.”
As my wife and I discussed the contaminated lettuce outbreak, she reminded me of Sinclair’s book, which she had read as a high school assignment. My recollection sat off in the distance, a remnant of a journalism history class in college that included some discussion of the Muckraking Era. Progressive Era investigative journalism in 1890-1920 included Ida Tarbell exposing monopoly in Standard Oil, and Ida B. Well and racism in the South.
Regulation essential
There’s an old saying about agriculture: When you complain about farmers, don’t talk with your mouth full of food. The same could be said about government regulation. Don’t complain about it if it means that you can grocery shop with the assurance the food is safe to eat. I enjoyed the Hokey Pokey Caramel Corn from Minneapolis in confidence that it was safe, if not healthy.
Since the reforms initiated in the Progressive Era, Americans have been slowly brainwashed by Big Business to believe that government regulation is a bad thing. It’s only bad if you are doing bad things. Wage earners who must live on a budget should be thankful that the FDA, and state and local agencies are being vigilant.
About the cost of food, government could be doing more about that. Consolidation and monopolistic practices have kept prices higher than they would be in a more competitive marketplace. The majority of beef processing is controlled by four companies, Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef. (June 2 story in MinnPost: Spotlight on food prices shines light on monopoly forces in grocery industry)
It would be interesting to speculate what Upton Sinclair would say about politics and economics today. He lived to be 90 (d. 1968) and wrote nearly 100 books, many in the muckraking genre, exposing the ills of industry. In 1943 he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Researching The Jungle, in 1904 he went undercover for seven weeks investigating the meatpacking plants in Chicago.
Following is a summary of The Jungle in Sparknotes:
Jurgis Rudkus and his fiancée, Ona, immigrate from Lithuania to Chicago, believing hard work will bring prosperity. Instead, they encounter exploitation, dangerous working conditions, corrupt employers, predatory landlords, and crushing poverty in the city’s meatpacking district.
As the family struggles to survive, one tragedy follows another: Jurgis’s father dies from overwork, family members lose jobs, children die, and Ona is sexually exploited by her supervisor. After Jurgis attacks her abuser, he is imprisoned. Upon his release, he finds the family homeless, and Ona dies during childbirth. Later, his young son drowns, destroying his remaining hope.
Jurgis drifts through homelessness, crime, political corruption, and prison, briefly prospering as a strikebreaker before losing everything again. Eventually, he reconnects with surviving relatives, discovering that Marija has turned to prostitution to support the family.
At his lowest point, Jurgis attends a Socialist Party rally. Inspired by its message that workers should own the means of production and end exploitation, he embraces socialism, finds stable employment through socialist connections, reunites with his family, and regains hope for the future. The novel ends with the optimistic declaration that political change through socialism can transform society.
Let’s celebrate Canada, eh? – Our northern neighbors offer far more than wildfire smoke
Street scene in old Quebec City.
Ron Dobson sounded hurried when he answered my phone call July 1. It was Canada Day, and like our Fourth of July, the celebration was keeping him busy as owner, publisher, editor, reporter, and probably ad sales too, of the Flin Flon, Manitoba Reminder.
I had called to find out how our Canadian neighbors were doing during this summer’s fire season, for a news story in MinnPost. A week later I called back and we had a nice chat. He sent some photos to help illustrate the news story. In typical Canadian fashion, he said to identify him only as a reporter.
In reporting the news story, I learned about Flin Flon, a mining town of about 5,000-plus, straddling the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan about 460 miles north-northwest of Winnipeg. If we thought last summer was bad for smoke and air quality, they nearly lost their town. Another small town about 20 miles away, Denari Beach, was destroyed. A year later residents are still trying to rebuild.
Last summer, wind and dry weather caused smaller fires to combine, and limited roads in remote areas can be cut off, hampering both evacuations and firefighting efforts. This summer, fires farther north forced evacuation of Lynn Lake, called the ‘sport fishing capital of Manitoba’. By Wednesday more than 800 wildfires were burning in Canada.
In recent years the U.S. has been very neighborly in sending much aid, including equipment and personnel, to Canada to fight wildfires. Another neighborly act would be for the U.S. to restore its efforts and participation in addressing climate change. Weather is a primary factor in causing wildfires, lack of rain and too much wind. We can only hope that our political leaders in the near future will restore weather forecasting resources, and respect for science.
Northern neighbors
Last week’s Substack post about ‘Land of Neighbors’ could be broadened to include Canada. When we are complaining about the smoke from Canadian wildfires, let’s also remind ourselves about the good things from Canada, except maybe for poutine. Soggy French fries and cheese curds covered in gravy remains on the questionable list.
Some of our most memorable travel experiences occurred in Canada, as much for the people as for the natural scenery and historic sites. Taking a ferry from Port Angeles, WA, to Victoria, driving through British Columbia, enjoying the charm of Banff, learning the history of Moose Jaw or Quebec, or standing on the border somewhere in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Visiting Quebec, the service at our hotel came with cultured class, and the breakfast crepes delicious. At a roadside stand along the King’s Road (Chemin du Roy) from Montreal to Quebec, we bought the best strawberries, attended by a young girl happy to practice her English on some tourists.
Art and culture, too. I have been reading some of Alice Munro (d. 2024), a 2013 Nobel Laurate in Literature. And who can forget Gordon Lightfoot? The story of his ballad about the Edmund Fitzgerald is well-told in a recent book by John U. Bacon, The Gales of November – The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The book is about much more than the Fitz. Its extensive background about Great Lakes shipping and its history would enlighten anyone who enjoys seeing the ‘lakers’ enter the Duluth harbor. The ballad plays constantly at the Great Lake Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI.
If Britain had prevailed
Canada Day, July 1, ‘celebrates the anniversary of the 1867 Canadian Confederation, uniting the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single dominion. Formerly known as Dominion Day, it marks the British North America Act establishing Canada as a self-governing entity within the British Empire’. The holiday was officially renamed Canada Day in 1982, the same year Canada gained full legislative independence from the British Parliament.
So, early on even if Canada did not immediately escape the clutches of Great Britain, things seem to have worked out okay. The parliamentary form of government is much more efficient. They don’t have almost continuous and expensive election campaigns. They have a king in Great Britain, but one with no real political power. They have universal health care, and a much nicer national anthem.
Like the TV series, “The Man in the High Castle,” where the Nazis won World War II, what if we could imagine a similar outcome of the Revolutionary War.? If the British had prevailed, what might have been the consequences for the colonial states? Less dystopian than ‘high castle’, today perhaps we would benefit from the aforesaid, especially, having a king with no real power.
We may have avoided the Civil War. In 1833 Britain passed the Slavery Abolition Act. Today we muddle along, still dealing with racism. We have created an imperial presidency where the current occupant wants to be king, a privatized health care system designed to enrich corporations and billionaires, dysfunctional political parties, and long election campaigns spending billions seeking to manipulate voters instead of informing them.
While Canadians also have their political differences, they seem to remain cordial and even deferential. Driving across Ontario we stopped at a small café looking for some take-out sandwiches. Since they did not take cards for payment, we had to pay in U.S. dollars and take the exchange rate hit. A man standing behind us in line, a local real estate agent and also the mayor, offered to pay for our sandwiches. We declined the offer but thought it was very neighborly.
‘Land of neighbors’ – Celebrating 250 years of ‘freedom’ ignores uncertain future of democracy
Tourists commemorate democracy and enjoy the view from the authentic Liberty Bell looking across Independence Square in Philadelphia.
Around ten-thirty Sunday evening, July 5, our quiet neighborhood came under bombardment. Launched from the residence across the road, fireworks that would rival many public displays burst in huge patterns showering sparks and ashes over a large area. This was not your average homestyle show.
We had just returned from a long day of travel, visiting relatives several hours away. Lying in bed, any hope for some sleep left when the fireworks started. The loud blasts shook the house. After about five minutes or so, it seemed to be over.
When the barrage continued, my usual patience gave way to major irritation. At other times and places, I enjoy watching fireworks, although in this case it set me on a path toward some kind of confrontation, which, like many people, I generally try to avoid.
Slipping out a back door in the darkness I crossed the road and approached the house. From the end of the driveway, I shined a bright light toward the backyard launch site. Seeing people there notice, I shouted, “Do you guys know what time it is?”
“We’re celebrating 250 years of freedom,” a man’s voice shouted from the distant darkness. “What’s wrong with that?” he said in a smart-alecky tone of voice. The response gave a clue about his place in the political spectrum, where the current leader’s self-absorbed thirst for power and wealth disregards the well-being of everyone else.
“We could be losing that freedom,” I muttered, suppressing the urge to reply loud enough for them to hear. My better judgment advised against any kind of shouting match. That doesn’t fit my personality, and it would be childish. I still plan to remain cordial with the neighbor, and I don’t believe that he was the one who shouted back.
‘Reduce the rancor’
Upon later reflection, I felt both vindicated and slightly embarrassed. Would it be possible to have a civil conversation with the revelers at a later time? I hope so, as do many others who are involved in various efforts and organizations to build bridges. Braver Angels is one those, which I wrote about in my May 8, 2025, post, “Reduce the Rancor – It takes Braver Angels to build bridges across the political divide.”
“Founded in 2016, Braver Angels is ‘a national, nonpartisan nonprofit with a particularly strong base in Minnesota dedicated to reducing unhealthy polarization without either side compromising its values.’
“Melina Voss of Braver Angels-Minnesota calls the partisan trend over the past 40 years ‘a national security problem.’ China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea want to see the U.S. divided. ‘Humans are not designed to listen to the other side’, Voss said, referring to human biology and the amygdala, a part of the brain that controls emotions of fear and aggression.”
The previous post mentions two books that might be helpful: The Road to Wisdom – On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust, by Dr. Francis Collins, who headed the National Institutes of Health during the Covid-19 battle, and Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. I have read Collins’ book and recommend it; the other is on my reading list.
‘Land of neighbors’
When following the political news results in sadness and loss of hope, it’s helpful to look around for good efforts to reduce the partisanship while allowing fruitful debate. A search for organizations and efforts trying to counter the political polarization turns up organizations such as Braver Angels (they wanted the name ‘Better Angels’, but that was already claimed).
The search turned up Minnesota Land of Neighbors. Supported by several philanthropic organizations such as the McKnight and Bush foundations, it’s a partnership of existing groups including Braver Angels, along with Common Ground, Civic Bridgers, and Media Minefield.
“Two-thirds of Minnesotans are exhausted with conflict and division and looking for something different, according to a More in Common report,” states the website ‘About’ page. It is hosting listening sessions around the state “where neighbors will share a meal, talk honestly about what matters to them, listen to others, and explore what action might look like together.”
Covering a May 2025 story for MinnPost about Braver Angels took me to a small listening session facilitated by ‘red’ and ‘blue’ leaders. It was interesting to see their rapport and ability to communicate while maintaining their political viewpoints, although it was evident that neither side was extremist. A greater challenge occurs when one side’s information comes only from Fox (Faux) News.
June 15-16 in Philadelphia the Promise of Democracy Summit will “gather civic leaders, policymakers, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historians to discuss strengthening the future of the democratic experiment.” Still a bit tainted by the taunt from the fireworks launchers, and the daily barrage of chaos coming from the current administration, the thought persists whether or not there even is a good future for democracy.
Combat corruption
The Democracy Summit is being organized by the Committee of Seventy, which describes its founding as being “established in 1904 to combat corruption in Philadelphia, playing a major role in the adoption of civil service reforms and the passage of the 1919 and 1951 Home Rule Charters. A nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, Seventy does not endorse candidates or represent any special interests.”
If you have visited the historic sites in Philadelphia, you may have felt the significance of the buildings and exhibits around Independence Square. Seeing the Liberty Bell and exhibits gives you an appreciation of what or forefathers accomplished. On our visit there some years ago I still recall our hurried pace for the last tour of Independence Hall.
We arrived at the check-in desk to retrieve previously made reservations. The host sent us across the square to Independence Hall, where a long line of tour hopefuls waited. Having reservations, we were escorted to the head of the line, barely making the last tour. If you are planning travels to busy tourist sites, it’s good to have reservations.
One more future date to remember is Sept. 15. The United Nations established the International Day of Democracy to promote and protect democratic values around the world. It is co-sponsored by the Interparliamentary Union, which states:
“Our support for International Democracy Day stems from our core belief that democracy requires the participation of all citizens. It is an opportunity to highlight the important role of parliaments, and to celebrate their capacity and mandate to deliver on justice, peace, development and human rights.”
It’s just a thought, but maybe Americans would be better served if the U.S. had a parliamentary form of government. No Electoral College that skews representation in the Senate, no endless and costly campaigns, more flexible with coalitions among conservative-centrist-liberal factions. But for now, we are stuck with democratic republic, and as Benjamin Franklin said, “if you can keep it.”
Note: This content was created by a human being with a soul. No use of artificial intelligence other than occasional questions to Alexa or Google-Meta about specific facts.
Column topics: 1. Words on Paper overview. 2. Literature expresses and influences society, the Great Conversation. 3. The Human Condition. 4. Story-telling: Power of the Narrative; Information is Power. 5. Aristotle and Plato: Cave to the Light. 6. Religious literature: Vedas, Bible, Quran. 7. What is Art?: Visual, drama, literary. 8. Important books that shaped and reflected America. 9. Authors, who are they? eg. Ellison, Carson. 10. Same old same old: Persistent topics. 11. Challenging challenging books, banned books. 12. Gutenberg to Zuckerberg: Digital world pros and cons. 13. Old world mass media (Newspapers, magazines, broadcast). 14. Benefits of reading vs. viewing: High and low involvement. 15. Why write fiction? Writing with a purpose. 16. Literary fiction, genres, aboutness. 17. Writing process, story structure, In the Beginning. 18. Resources, opportunities. 19. My journey as an author. 20. My novels. (As the need arises, columns on other topics may be interspersed among these.)