A More Perfect Union?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Though we think of these words as being universally applicable, and part of the founding documents of our nation.  When it was new, though, the U. S. Constitution was not universally beloved and embraced. In fact, it was far from a done deal from the word go.

Our nation, our democracy, has never, NEVER been a done deal. There have always been those who would prefer things to have gone in a different direction.

Sometimes those people have been us.

Well, I’ll speak for myself: sometimes those people have been me.

There is a lot of talk about the complete breakdown of our political system, stuck in gridlock and ever-increasing bi-partisanship.

And it is frustrating to be on the side-lines, so to speak, and watch all of this happening.

It makes sense to us, doesn’t it, to work together? To be cooperative and collaborative?

So why doesn’t every one see this, when it’s as plain as the nose on my face.

Except, really it isn’t very plain at all.

Yes, it is very upsetting to see our local and federal governments at loggerheads with each other. And while our political system does seem to be getting collectively more divided, this is not unheard of.

This week I got to go see a movie as research for a sermon.  Denis and I went to see “Lincoln.” I went in part because I knew that the movie was going to be based from the text of a book I read called Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, written by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Even though I knew the outcome of the story, the 13^th Amendment passes, abolishing slavery in the United States, and Lincoln gets assassinated, still it was a riveting movie.

And it reminded me of something.

Politicians have been at each other’s throats before, and at times even more virulently than they are now.

Do you remember how shocking it was when House Representative Joe Wilson shouted out at President Obama “You Lie!”?  It was shocking to us because it was a breach of protocol.

This was not the first time that a House Representative from South Carolina behaved poorly in the House Chamber.

In fact, it seems that South Carolina has a rather uneasy relationship with the Federal Government.

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Federal Union in December 24, 1860, just shortly after Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.

As part of my research for this sermon on the messiness of democracy, I read the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. Passed and published by their own delegates in convention, this Declaration lays out in clear detail the many injustices suffered by the citizens of South Carolina at the hands of those states who voted for Lincoln. Especially named the difficulties of the Fugitive Slave Act, and the Federal government’s lack of proper response to enforcing this law.

As a direct action of the Federal government’s in ability to force northern states to return slaves to their rightful owners, the Federal government had failed South Carolina, and South Carolina was going to re-claim it’s own sovereign status as a free state and country.

The next document coming from the South Carolina Assembly was written to their fellow slave states, encouraging them to likewise secede and tear asunder the federal union.

By now you may be asking yourself, “Just what got Reverend Joe on this rant, anyway?”

Here is the answer: I have been thinking a lot about the secessionist movements of the last few weeks.

For those who don’t know about this, here is a very brief, very incomplete recap of the events.

Shortly after the election, some people in Louisiana decided to file a petition with the federal government, requesting secession from the Union. A petition was submitted to the www.whitehouse.gov/petitions on November 7th, requesting that Louisiana be granted to be allowed to peacefully withdraw from the United States of America and be allowed to create its own New Government.

Shortly after the election being the very next day.

Since November 7^th, people in all 50 states have filed petitions on this white house website, each asking for their state to be released from the bonds of our federal union.

It sounds crazy, I know.

Which is why I went back to 1860.

After the election of another president with radical ideas.

From the 1860 South Carolinian Declaration:

On the 4th day of March next, this party [Abraham Lincoln] will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States.

The guaranties of the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy.

Sectional interest and animosity will deepen the irritation, and all hope of remedy is rendered vain, by the fact that public opinion at the North has invested a great political error with the sanction of more erroneous religious belief.

We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.

It takes 25,0000 signatures on this website to prompt a response from the White House. On the internet, a puppy wagging its tail will get more than 25,000 hits in an hour. Now there is another on-line movement to revoke the citizenship of those who have signed these petitions, some from each of the fifty states.

I don’t know how to move in this next idea smoothly, so I shall just state it baldly. I believe that the secessionist actions of 1860 and 1861, and the current grumbling about secession involve the progress toward equality of African Americans, and I suspect racism.

There were then, and are now, people feeling profoundly threatened by change. Good people, frightened that their way of life is in danger, inspired to act in ways that may be counter to the very goals they hold dear.

Democracy is messy, folks.

That’s all there is to it. It’s messy.

But it is the best system available to us.

This is one of the 7 principles that we, as a Member Congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations agree to affirm and promote.

Principle No. 5: the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

Democracy does not work if, at the first sign of trouble, we take our ball and go home. Democracy only works if we stay engaged, trying our best to be respectful of others, staying at the table when we’d rather be off doing just about anything else.

It means not calling that person with whom you don’t agree a nincompoop. It means not undermining another’s personhood because they don’t agree with you.

The best way for us to practice democracy is for us to honor each other, to expect the best from each other, and to be willing to give more credit to our fellows that we perhaps want to.

Whether in the Halls of Congress, the meeting room of a school board, or here in our sanctuary, if we are to practice democracy, if we are to get the most out of democracy, we must be willing to walk, side by side, with those whose opinions differ from ours. We must be willing to talk to each other.

Not to talk at each other, or around each other, or behind each other’s back, but to talk with…

with…

with each other.

To come to the table not so convinced of our own rightness and righteousness.

To share ideas, to come to the discussion prepared for the possibility that you might just be transformed by the sharing you do with your fellows.

Here is the holy work of democracy: to sit together, as equals; to exchange ideas, as people who are brilliant and creative; to not just impart, but also to accept information and ideas.

And then together, we vote.

And together we live with the consequences of that vote.

Walking away will never serve democracy.

Recently, someone, and I really wish I could remember who, said to some of us gathered “How much energy would we save ourselves, if only we complain just to those who can make a change.”

Or something akin to that.

I know that there are people here in this fellowship who are unhappy about one thing or another.

Please hear me clearly: I invite you to come and speak with me.

Come to my table and talk with me.

I am not the all powerful Oz, and I will not be able to fix your concern alone, but together, we might be able to walk, side by side, to either a solution, or a compromise that you can live with.

At the very least, you will have been heard.

If your own, personal goal is to be a productive member of this fellowship, you must be willing to do certain things. One of those things is to behave in a manner which is conducive to the health of the congregation.

I often say that we are a covenantal faith. We are in covenant with each other.

None of us has more power than another. We each get one vote.

To sit back and complain about this policy, this procedure, this perceived slight is no way to help improve the health of this congregation.

It may be very difficult for you to come forward, it may be extremely un-nerving for you to sit at a table and both talk and listen to your fellows. It may be hard for you to, after a long, thoughtful discussion, for you to put your opinion aside, and recognize the wisdom of the people in this fellowship.

And sometimes, a vote will just plain not go the way you would wish it.

Living a spiritual life is sometimes about doing difficult things. Growth as an individual involves risk and discomfort.

It also offers beautiful opportunities to learn, new ways to celebrate and even a deeper understanding of the universe and your holy place within it.

It is only with a full table, full of people with ideas who can share them caringly with each other, people who can explore in open and honest dialogue, that democracy can be best practiced.

Please, come to the table. 

© The Rev. Joseph M Cherry

Written for and delivered to

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County

November 18, 2012