The DNA of Democracy

By Richard C Lyons

An American poet writes a compilation of historical vignettes, discerning the future of our democracy by rediscovering the combative, instructive, fascinating past of tyranny and democracy. Just as DNA is interwoven in every aspect of the human body, tyranny and democracy have their historically distincti

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lylea Creative Resources, LLC
• Release date: May 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9780997346206

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The DNA of Democracy

The DNA of Democracy

Copyright © 2019 Lylea Creative Resources, Inc.

All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this book may be copied or sold. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher, except by the reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Cover and Interior Design: Indigo Design, Inc.

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ISBN ISBN:978-0-9600723-2-3

Printed in the U.S.A.

This work is dedicated to Richard and Giulia Lyons, whose presence in my life has given me countless profound joys and impressed me with how sacred the gift of life truly is. The happiest moments we have known were in open fields, where their spirits could be set free and a world of wonder opened to their discovery.

The work is also dedicated to 1st Lieutenant Thomas Francis Enright, who served in Group 311 of Gen. Omar Bradley’s 4th Infantry Division. Lt. Enright was wounded December 16, 1944 in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, while freeing Europe with hundreds of thousands of fellow GI’s. Despite the experience of his injuries, he kept a very joyous presence which belied the continuous pain his sacrifice bore through every stride of his life.

Lt. Enright was awarded a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for conspicuous bravery and sacrifice in his service to Democracy.

Foreward

Are you ready for an emotional rollercoaster? Voltaire once wrote that for the feeling person, life is a tragedy, while for the thinking person life is a comedy…this work has much to sorrow over, for the effects tyranny produces creating family and personal tragedies that will leave the feeling reader of the work sometimes in tears. And for those who think more than feel, you will find much to howl in laughter over, for such are the strange character traits to be found along the spectrum of human experience this book represents.

Are you looking for an education in DNA of democracy? An entertaining exposition of what separates all other governments from democracy? Would you like an entertaining education in the critical ways of knowing a tyranny when you see one, and an education in the essentials necessary in a government, that democracy cannot exist without? Would you like to know why democracy as it exists in the United States is different from anywhere else in the world? You’ve come to the right book!

Get ready for a ride! Get ready to meet tyrants of all kinds, though they are much the same, they do have some personality quirks that makes each distinct. But the purveyors of democracy are far more interesting…read further to find Daring Generals who have braved all…to cast tyrants in there graves. Meet women who have inspired philosophers and defied kings and others who dared to defy death to protect their morals and families. Meet some unique Bearers of philosophical light, who become lawgivers and changed the fate of humanity, while creating or saving their nations.

Get ready for an education in the Testaments and social covenants of law, writ to protect all equally, regardless of birth or circumstances, which protect us yet today. Learn about the importance of an independent legal system apart from and uncorrupted by political loyalties. Learn about the Institutions and associations which form the lines between the powerful and tyrannous and the individual, such as independent churches and universities. And learn enough of the profound causes and creations of democracy, which make our form of government the only kind that can be called inspiring!

This book will also define that constitutional alchemy of ingredients that inspire the magical term: Elixer, a composition of ingredients which has a quality of taking normal, otherwise dull materials of the earth, but which once stirred…. unlocks the explosive, exponential potential of the composing elements, which would otherwise lifelessly slumber…the elixir necessary to the inventor, the producer, the scientist and the artist…

It’s a helluva ride – are you ready!

Preface

What a rare jewel exists in our midst: one that we see before our eyes, that we hold in our hands, that we sense in our very souls! Our democracy is as singular as the Earth itself: to our knowledge, the sole inhabitable life-bearing sphere throughout the dark of countless light-years. Our democracy, since its beginnings, has been a light for all to see. It is the most self-consciously created form of government in human history, its rights and freedoms founded so as to produce living fountains of creativity in all the arts, the sciences, the crafts and trades and industries that together comprise the pathways of human aspiration and achievement.

Our American history is a chronicle worthy of celebration. Our nation’s fruits, in their kind and number, are unprecedented—and they proceed, each and all, from our system of individual liberties. Our liberties have indeed earned the characterization of sacred and are supremely worthy of saving.

But, as any candid observer who has lived thoughtfully over sufficient years would observe, and as the author has found:

There’s somethin’ happening here

And what it is ain’t exactly clear…

Buffalo Springfield

This author has found it imperative, as a citizen, having studied something of history and human character, to undertake a labor intended to bring clarity to the understanding of our present state of government, informed by the sobering knowledge that democracy itself need not end with enormous explosions; it may be smothered in gathering silences. Democracy need not be killed in overt acts of war; it may perish through what appear to be kindnesses. Democracy need not fall visibly, noisily and dramatically; it may crumble, by imperceptible degrees, before disappearing. Democracy need not be crushed by foreign foes; it may collapse under many slight assaults, given and received by its own citizens, whose acts serve an end of societal implosion.

Democracy can end. Liberty can be lost. The most remarkable system of government that this most remarkable world has ever wrought—this jewel—may return to dust.

If you are as interested as I in exploring the brilliance and assuring the continued vigor of democracy, I invite you to join me in a not-overlong literary journey. This series of histories and commentary visits first the various kinds of devised governments, then the most prevalent kind, and finally the rarest and most challenging kind: a government of, by and for the people. Come along as we travel the currents of history, examining the seeds and roots of our democracy in ancient Israel and Athens, observing their flower in the republican era of Rome and watching their powerful pull toward explicit liberty under England’s monarchy. And then we travel to a novel world, where established European perceptions were turned upside down by the witness of councils governing the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes. In this moment of history we will sample the writings of philosophers and poets on both sides of the Atlantic who found echoes in these Amerindian councils of the glory of Athens. Then we will visit the greatest, most rebellious generation of Americans who ever drew breath in defiance; who devoted their lands and their liberties, their fortunes and their labors, their honor and their lives, to fight for and forge a new system of governance, founded on individual liberty for the welfare of all, which they intended to survive for the benefit of all future generations on this continent, and to form an example for the benefit of the world.

We will visit the Civil War period in America, when a tragedy of unimaginable scope consumed the nation, as our democracy had to suffer into becoming herself, in a fulfillment of democracy’s promise.

We will then recount the Civil War’s opposite: the orderly function of democracy as witnessed in the success of the Women’s Suffrage movement.

So, let’s take a great ride through vignettes of history, rediscovering ideas that were millennia in the making. Join in a journey through historical passages, legendary and real, that formed the foundation of our country. Meet the personalities of America whose defiance became the cradle of a great democracy! Consider and appreciate the inventive scope of American artistry and enterprise that helps define our being.

Come, let us join in a journey of exposition and definition of the DNA of Democracy.

Introduction

The Kinds of Government

Before embarking on our journey through this series of essays, we must clarify how few and simple are the kinds of government and how they may be discerned. Throughout human history and around the globe, the essential kinds of government, while varied in their particulars, have been strikingly few.

When we speak of government, we may speak of definitions of tyranny and oligarchy, monarchy and aristocracy, representative republics and democracies. We may speak of titles: of emperors, empresses, kings and queens, potentates, pharaohs, generals, dictators and presidents. But when we speak of the kinds of government, there are but these: Government by one through few over many, all of whom are subject to the one. Government by a few over many, all of whom are subject to the few. Government by many through relatively few representatives, who both lead and follow, generally abiding by the will of the many. And government directly by the many, of the many, for the benefit of the many. The essential questions are: Who rules whom? Who are the subjects of whom?

In considering the kinds of government, we must also consider the kinds of economies: those systems for orderly acquisition, distribution and maintenance of food, shelter and life’s necessities. In any society this is the most fundamental association, affecting one and all; thus it becomes the first focus of authority, as it holds the power to give or to take, to raise or to ruin, and thereby to control.

The kinds of economy, again, are few and easily discerned: Is the economic structure one of command and control by one through the few over the many, with the power to benefit or destroy, to raise or to ruin—to control? Is the economic structure one of command and control by the few over the many, with the power to benefit or destroy, to raise or to ruin—to control? Or is the economic structure what we would call a free market, operating through the unforced associations and aspirations of the many who comprise one marketplace? And is the system overseen through an honest, mutually agreed-to, and effective legal framework, constructed by the people’s representatives, with the purpose of fairness to all based on the merits of each?

We must also consider the ultimate question of ownership: Who owns what? Is all property the possession of the government? Do rights of individual and institutional property and investment exist, and if so, are these recognized and protected by law?

With regard to economic strata, there are, always have been, and always will be just three economic strata in any society: there is a high, a middle and a low. We can discern differences in the kinds of government by asking whether a person’s position within one of these strata is fixed or fluid: whether one’s station in life is determined by a government-supported system of social organization. Are each individual’s position and prospects dictated by birth, by association or by merit? Does someone other than the individual define the individual’s success and accompanying rewards, based on personal allegiance or service to some authority? Do a few persons determine that success and its rewards through their offices—possibly by examining the individual’s deeds, possibly by deciding whether the individual does or does not belong with the group in power? Or does an impersonal, autonomous system of operation—the marketplace—determine the individual’s success and rewards, based on generally acknowledged merits and accomplishments?

The ultimate question becomes: Does the individual determine the extent of his or her success? Does the individual need a government, or association with a party of government, to succeed? Are the fruits of success one’s own, or may they be seized, in whole or in part, by a government? If those fruits are acknowledged to be one’s own, is the individual free to save and invest them at will, with full legal protection?

Here we must factor in the existence within every society of many social components: organizations and their members or affiliates, whether based on family or faith, education or industry, even simply on affinity. Are these societies’ individual members, their institutions and industries, independent of, and/or influential upon, government? Or are such naturally or voluntarily occurring associations subject to the control of government? Do they exist at the pleasure of the government itself, or of a party of government? Are the sub-societies’ institutions supported, repressed or oppressed by a government? Do these associations have rights unto themselves, defensible by law?

Finally, the fundamental analogy by which we may examine the differences in kinds of government is in their DNA. Governments behave like living beings, and like every living being, governments carry a fundamental blueprint: their DNA. The kinds of government, whether tyrannical or democratic, have key, core characteristics that serve as an ideational code, much like biological DNA. This code determines the structural characteristics and resultant behavior of a government. DNA is the essential information code out of which emerge the distinct characteristics of the social organism: DNA is the essential information code out of which the distinct circumstances of the flesh of governance gathers.

The DNA Difference

The history of democracy, from its birth to the present day, begins with early labor pains that intensify with opposition to tyranny. Indeed, many of democracy’s key advances have come in response to the experience of intolerable acts of tyranny. The DNA of democracy may be seen as a recessive genetic helix manifesting itself dominantly in response to such extreme tyrannies. Herein we confine ourselves to critical ideas, characters, historical events, and governing structures that comprise the essential DNA of our liberty and stand in direct contrast to the DNA of tyranny.

For example, one of the DNA codes of tyranny is its concentration of power. The more power exists in concentration, the more it exercises itself; the more it grows, the more it concentrates, much like our human anatomical muscle structure. Opposite to that concentration is the DNA of democracy, which engenders a diffusion of power; the more it is diffused, the more fresh and subtle forces come into existence, freely associating with others, to the enrichment of all. Ideally, democracy programs itself to support a relaxed—yet tough and resilient—power structure deriving its strength from its relaxed and diffused multiplicity.

In the historical episodes we are to visit, we will encounter certain tyrants who provide vivid historical examples of the DNA of tyranny, demonstrating that tyrants are remarkably alike in their traits, and that most of their drastic actions stem from the same motives. We also will visit certain heroes who illustrate the critical elements of the DNA of democracy, according to their essential characters. The DNA of democracy, however, cannot be identified only with individual characters; it also exists in the mythos and belief systems of peoples; it is in the very poetry of their souls. It is also in a reverence for law and constitutions which provide for the legal safety and representation within government of everyone.

Democracy’s unique DNA also exists in several masterpieces of human construction that have served as foundations whereby our freedoms survive today—as in founding documents of law and constitutions, or in celebratory artworks produced within an atmosphere of creative freedom. In the present day, democracy’s DNA is evident in the independent institutions that are founded and thrive outside any control of governmental structures.

After each history, told in the form of narrative vignettes, we will summarize the essential DNA components of the tyranny exercised and the DNA elements of democracy generated in each era.

Tyranny is easy to find and characterize; it is as common as the sands on all the shores of the world; whereas democracy may be compared to the rarest of pearls, found only after a very great labor. Tyranny is and always has been the common keep of humanity. Democracy is the fruit born of a struggle to escape tyranny’s keep. Tyranny is the dark of a vast swamp; democracy is the flower of the lotus, which through struggle, sits in beauty, in the light atop.

And so, we turn our attention to the most common kind of government the world has known. It is the earliest known systematized type, and it remains, to humanity’s sad legacy, common worldwide: it is the tyrannical government system of the most ancient Pharaohs.

Humanity’s Common Keep

Tyranny

In the castle fortresses that protected a king’s domain, the most highly fortified, well-shielded area is the keep. Noun or verb, the keep guarantees that a king keeps his power, a lord keeps his treasure, and the peasant is kept down, in and by the keep…and the keepers.

Throughout human history, the most common form of government has dominated the ages, and human society itself. It has occurred and recurred down through the millennia, around the world, and it is exemplified by the Egypt of the all-powerful Pharaoh. It is simple tyranny: rule by the one, through the few, to enslave the multitudes.

The rule of the Pharaoh, the intermediary god, the sacred unassailable, the unquestionable nature! The One before whom all humanity must bend, must bow, must kneel, must plead to eat, to breathe… to live!

The One rules through a favored few: Pharaoh’s ministers, the favored few who are enriched with lands, wealth, and positions as keepers of the common prison, actuated by an absolute loyalty balanced on the emotional axis of greed and envy; and Pharaoh’s priests, the favored few who exploit human emotions of fear, hope, and shame, who herd a flock of sheep to conform to Pharaoh’s will—and to his belief; and Pharaoh’s armies, the favored few who, as warlords, are actuated by pride and prejudice, whose chariots and spears marshal obedience throughout Pharaoh’s vast provinces; and Pharaoh’s spies, the favored few who see everything in the shadows and hear everything in the whispers of human society, whose weapons are the secrets of others and their fear of deeper dungeons.

In the land of Pharaoh, all properties are Pharaoh’s, all roads are Pharaoh’s, all waterways are Pharaoh’s. Pharaoh dispenses among his favored few the benefits of these lands and their connecting ways: to his favored ministers, for their use, accompanied by the labor of the numberless, mute multitudes, whose harvests are plundered by Pharaoh’s favored few tax collectors. Nothing is owned, nothing is produced, nothing moves without the all-seeing eye and sanction of the intermediary god: Pharaoh, who owns all, who harvests all tribute and taxes —all through his chosen few.

Pharaoh’s painters and scribes, too, are among the favored few, though strictly subject to an orthodoxy of thought and art, speaking or writing or painting in figures of approved and defined subjects, of defined shapes, of approved colors, which allow not the least free artistry or independent thinking. Everything one sees, everything one hears, is approved by the minions of Pharaoh or by Pharaoh himself—for Pharaoh owns all thoughts, all conceptions, even those yet unarticulated, that ply the very air itself.

These are the favored few, the courtiers, ministers, priests and artists of the One. When one is favored by Pharaoh, one’s fortunes can prosper. When one is not favored by Pharaoh, one is worth nothing, one owns nothing, one is nothing. When one is favored by Pharaoh, one can act with impunity, can commit any act—murder, thievery, appropriation of another’s property (which, let us not forget, includes one’s women: wife and daughters) with the reasonable expectation of facing few consequences, or none at all; only the negligence or indulgence of Pharaoh is necessary.

If, however, one is not among his few, and one displeases Pharaoh or his ministers in any way, that is reason enough for imprisonment, for exile, for execution, with punishments not only for the accused but for their families, their friends and their neighbors—all of it performed at once, or not, on the whim of a tyrant.

These favored few of Pharaoh, however, are also merely first among equals. They are Pharaoh’s top rank of slaves, who further enslave all the unfavored ones: the massive multitudes unlucky enough to live beneath them.

The ancient fruits of the rule of the One are visible even now, standing on the desert sands of Giza. A series of pyramids forms a sprawling graveyard: tombstones venerating those would-be gods, the Pharaohs, who stood alone atop their heaps of stone, until their souls were surprised to find that God stands in eternity alone. Yet preceding that end, beneath each Pharaoh, countless mute souls were sacrificed, countless lives crushed beneath the one… into dust….

Some of the social organizations we call human civilization were born in this prison of fixed construction. Its repercussions are evident down through the ages, ever since they were engendered in those first powers of the Pharaoh. This form of government is not buried in the historical dust of ancient Egypt; its absolute grip can be seen in the empire of the Ottomans, and its echoes ring loudly in Egypt today. It characterized Russia’s czars, Russia’s Communists, and now Russia’s Putin. It ruled China in the days of the Han dynasty and the Ming dynasty, and in the ruthless rule of Mao; it resurrects itself in the man currently guaranteed to rule for life, President Xi Jinping. It can be discerned in the autocratic government of Cuba and the Castros’ chosen successor. It has, in short, been the common prison of mankind for millennia.

It is nearly as common today as in days ancient and past (though today’s tyrants often take care to drape their rule in the décor of democracy)—but something else, a radically different alternative, comes down to us from that time.

The Classical Era

Democracy's Beginnings

Map of Meditarranean

Israel

Another force was born in the time of Pharaoh. From a modern perspective, it was the first seed of liberty… and it grew in defiance of Pharaoh’s system of slavery.

It was said to the Patriarch Jacob:

You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel,

because you have contended with divine and human beings

and have prevailed.

Genesis 32:23

The people of Israel came under the shadow, then into the shackles, of the Pharaoh, who demanded to be revered as a god, with the omnipotence of a god. Wrestling with the demand, the Israelites of Goshen decided to endure physical enslavement to maintain their spiritual freedom. They chose to believe that Pharaoh was not God; nor, therefore, would they submit to a contrived omnipotence over their souls.

A Lawgiver

An infant born of slaves was adopted into the house of Pharaoh and there named Moses. Reared as an Egyptian prince, he was offered all the instruments of unlimited power. On discovering his true origins, however, he rejected these powers of a dictator and took up instead the staff of a shepherd, setting off through the deserts in search of the light…of a lawgiver. He found such a light in an unconsuming, undying fire atop the heights of Sinai. With that flame received and blazing in his soul, he returned to his captive nation and set it free from Pharaoh’s slavery.

The people of Israel would no longer live in the huts to which they had been consigned by Pharaoh; they would no longer eat food allowed or disallowed by Pharaoh; they would no longer labor in a strict line of file designed for Pharaoh’s purposes. They set themselves physically free after having suffered for their spiritual freedom for centuries—centuries during which the people of Israel endured every physical atrocity, but survived through their faith in family and their family of faith.

Moses went to Sinai to receive the Decalogue of God, whereupon written with fire carved into stone were set the Ten Commandments. It was a Decalogue that was simple and lucid, given for the benefit of all who received it. The light of the Ten Laws was then what it is now: the spirit and guidance of God on Earth.

— Masterpiece —

The Ten Commandments

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

◆

Yet the struggle of Israel with beings human and divine was not over. In time the people drifted from the discipline of the Laws; they chose to construct and revere idols of gold in the Sinai’s shadows—a grievous sacrilege for which they were condemned to wander the deserts for a generation. At last, they crossed the River Jordan, to the land of milk and honey.

During the period of the Kings, Israel again faced the critical question of idolatry when their own kings demanded to be considered God’s Anointed in the person of a human king—to be regarded in a position of omnipotence, above the temple as well as the people. Israel was soon divided by the question. In the weakness of this division, the people were again conquered and made captive… this time to Babylon, where in exile Israel’s law was further strengthened, until the people realized God was not confined to an area or to a city; God was not located in a temple, upon an altar or within an idol. Only in the law, as handed down from God, could true liberty be found. The land of milk and honey was not so because of the land. The milk and honey of Israel flowed freely through the land because of adherence to the law.

During the whole of their captivity, the people of Israel remained obstinate in differentiating the human from the divine. For Israel, God was the Most High, the Everlasting One, the God of Vision, the God of Wisdom, the God of Light. God was never envisioned as a mortal of insatiable wants, nor of a thousand whips, nor of a million crimes. And this is why Israel has been despised though the ages: despite its all-too-human moments of weakness and failure, from the age of Pharaoh to the age of Caligula to the age of Hitler, and even to our own time, Israel has maintained belief in and service to one God and no other, whose representative on Earth is not in the form of a man or an association of persons, but in the form of the law. How greatly Israel has been blessed, and how greatly Israel has suffered, for having kept this distinction since the days of Jacob.

In time, a more benevolent tyrant came to rule in Babylon (they did occur, albeit very infrequently). Cyrus the Great, believing that the gods wished him to permit conquered peoples to worship according to their custom, allowed the people of Israel to return to Canaan. However, this benevolent tyrant had a grandson of a contrary disposition: Darius, another deluded would-be god, in the pattern of a pharaoh, bent an alarmed, envious, and fearful eye westward to the emerging, independent city-states of Greece, along the shores of the Aegean and Ionian Seas, where the nascent springs of democracy were flowing; they were alive and thriving!

Greece

Greece is a peninsula frayed in the south into assorted islands and nestled in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. Its mountainous terrain is bounded by irregular shores and surrounded by kindred isles: each hill, harbor and isle is defensible in its particular enclave. It was the ideal setting in ancient times for nurturing some 1,100 fiercely independent city-states, each set like a jewel glimmering along the edges of their common sea.

The city-states differed in their customs, fashions, arts, manufactures, and productions, but as Herodotus, the father of history, wrote of his people, among the several factors common to all were gods, language, and kinship. Each city-state also shared a sense of independence from its fellow Greek city-states and from the dominion of foreign potentates.

Mythos

The Greeks revered the use of language in stories that created and perpetuated the mythos of Greek heroes, sung