By Barbara Slayter
Lincoln is a beautiful town, green and fragrant at this time of year as New England tips from summer into autumn. Lincoln’s residents take good care of their gardens beginning with the daffodils and tulips of early spring, on through the rhododendrons, day lilies, and black-eyed Susans into fall. The trails are well cared for and enjoyed.
But how well do we tend to our larger social and political garden beyond the borders of our gracious community? We are a thoughtful, well-educated group of people tending carefully to the professional and business interests for which we are trained. Are we paying attention to the political context in which we are able to pursue these interests as fully as we do?
A few pages into a different sort of “gardening” manual, How Democracies Die by Daniel Ziblatt and Steve Levitsky, will reveal just how much our national political garden needs attention. The precarious balance between Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate requires our focus.
Surely we are not so complacent that we might stand by as the House becomes populated by newly elected 2020 election deniers. Are we ready for expanding fallout from the reversal of Roe v. Wade, for increasing culture wars against the LGBTQ community, or for a rollback on climate interventions?
It is time for us to examine the political garden beyond Lincoln and even beyond Massachusetts. What elections around the country are the most important — the most strategic — for preserving our democracy? How can we deploy our personal, limited funds and time most effectively to assure that we sustain not only our democracy, but the momentum we have recently been gaining with the chips and science legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, health care for veterans, and more?
What can you do — what can I do, and what can each of us do — to put our energies where the stakes are high — maybe Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin or elsewhere? Let’s help shape these elections in order to keep the House and the Senate Blue. This election isn’t about gas prices or gun safety. It is about threats to our democracy. Our national political garden needs some work. Let’s get at it!
For ideas and strategies that can address our national political landscape, join the Lincoln Democrats and Tom Hallock and Ed Loechler, co-founders of Force Multiplier, a Boston-based volunteer Democratic fundraising organization, for an informational (not fundraising) meeting about how to support key Senatorial and Congressional candidates in the midterms. Click here to register and get the Zoom link.
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.