My father, Captain Gordon DeBoskey, spent over two years in Europe during World War II. He helped lead a field hospital that, during the war, provided front line medical treatment to wounded soldiers, and, after the war, liberated and provided medical care to prisoners in Nazi labor camps. In both settings, he witnessed the unspeakable horrors of the war. For the remainder of his life, he refused to speak about what he had experienced. He did, however, ardently participate in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and remained an actively engaged citizen of our hometown. He died in 1995.
He and millions of other men and women risked their lives in Europe and Asia in World War II. Over 400,000 of them were killed, and another 670,000 were injured. They served for one principal reason: to preserve democracy and prevent the spread of authoritarianism and fascism; to protect freedom against the forces of totalitarianism.
Today, democracy and freedom are under attack more than at any time since WWII. Then, the threats were from external forces. Today, the threats are largely from internal forces, led by our President and his largest donor, and supported by millions of our fellow citizens who, for now, appear to accept that the rule of law, democratic norms, separation of powers, freedom of the press and speech, international friendships and formal economic and military alliances, national security, civil and equal rights, respect for immigrants, environmental safeguards, election integrity, public education, religious freedom, separation of church and state, government integrity, commitment to science and research, and much more, are not worth preserving, let alone fighting for. My dad, and those of his generation who resisted tyranny, would be shocked and outraged at what our government is doing now.
It’s difficult to rank the threats to our democracy that are being unleashed every day by this two-month-old administration. Perhaps what worries me the most are those actions that are realigning our foreign policy in ways that threaten our long term economic, political and military security. Although international friendships can be repaired, like all relationships, they ultimately rest on trust…and our long-time allies’ trust in the U.S. has been deeply shaken and may take decades to repair, if they are reparable. In the meantime, our President’s about-face on relationships with our allies and declared enemies is frightening as the world becomes more unstable, nuclear weapons proliferate, climate change accelerates, and security alliances are rendered worthless. Recent revelations about national security breaches have only raised the stakes.
A close second worry is the all-out assault on the rule of law. If the judicial branch of government is ignored, diminished, and demeaned, then we will have no ability to protect our rights, there will be no restraints on government action, and the constitution on which this democracy was built will be meaningless. Moreover, the intimidation efforts against major law firms and lawyers across the country threatens to limit the ability of lawyers to defend our constitution and our civil liberties.
So, what do we, the majority of voters who voted for someone other than this President do, in the face of all of this?
WE MUST RAISE OUR VOICES, JOIN PEACEFUL PROTESTS, REPEATEDLY CALL OUR DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVES AT ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT, VOLUNTEER, CONTRIBUTE MONEY TO WORTHY CAUSES, JOIN OR FORM GROUPS OF LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE, SPEAK TO OUR NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES, AND NOT ACQUIECSE IN THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR GOVERNMENT.
In my most recent column, Insist. Resist. Assist. Persist. Do Not Desist, I gave specific examples of how best to take action in this pivotal time and which organizations need your support. In addition, The Contrarian recently listed “15 Ways You Can Fight for Democracy”
The oval office debacle with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the administration’s on-again-off-again support for our democratic ally Ukraine heightened concern for the safety and security of Ukrainian citizens, for democracy, and for all of Europe. Although there are many organizations seeking philanthropic support for military activities in Ukraine, it is very difficult to properly vet those organizations. To offer humanitarianaid however, I recommend the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Recovery Fund.
This president and his largest donor – the world’s richest man – want us to remain divided, confused, and silent until we can no longer act. In choosing our response and our responsibility, please remember these important words:
On the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan, speaking in France, said,
“You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
We are bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We’re bound by reality. The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States, and the American securty guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe’s democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.”
On the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, June 7, 2024, President Joseph Biden, also speaking in France, said,
“The men who fought here…knew, beyond any doubt, there are things that are worth fighting and dying for.Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America is worth it. The world is worth it — then, now, and always.”
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“We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago. They never fade. Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force — these are perennial. And the struggle between a dictatorship and freedom is unending.…
We’re not far off from the time when the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us.
So, we have a special obligation. We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come. We must remember it, must honor it, and live it. And we must remember: The fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today…. Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. That’s the test of the ages.”