Since Jennie and I were writing our vows, I've been looking for this quotation about democracy that I remember reading years ago and writing in my journal. I found the quotation yesterday finally. Marilynne Robinson and Barack Obama talk about democracy and books and small town values in this NYRB discussion from 2012 posted on Soundcloud.
While discussing how the political weather has become negative and toxic, Robinson talks about how we've come to forget that democracy itself was a momentous invention and that it's precious. Two passages are especially poignant. The first is about how we collectively do not hold democracy itself in enough esteem any more.
I think that in our earlier history.... there was the conscious sense that democracy was achievement.... It was something that people collectively made and they held it together by valuing it. (6:20)
I love the phrasing that democracy was "an achievement" rather than just a description of a form of government. And I love the idea that it's a temporary "event" that is constantly held together... like doing the hoola hoop, but with many people. (Or doing "the wave" at a sporting event?). It's something that a community must do and speaks to why community is important, and why the fraying of community can cause the fraying of democracy.
Why is this important?
We cannot take it for granted. It's a made thing that we remake continuously. (7:40)
There is phrasing in our vows that says something similar... we value our love and commit to remaking it every day.
What's important in what Robinson says include: 1. it is a made thing; it's not natural; we should value it for it's rarity/temporariness; 2. it's like a "song" or "dance" in that it's made in the doing, 3. we make it continuously
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