A Republic, if you can keep it

 I have been busy during this stay-at-home pandemic. One project I helped with in 2020 was a memoir for North Carolina Senator Donald Kincaid. He was a Republican in the state senate when being a Republican in the General Assembly was nearly unheard of. For one term, he was the ONLY Republican. 

He wrote in longhand and I'd drop by his office, fully masked, and pick up the latest chapter, take it to my computer, and enter it. Our discussions led me further into the political side of life than I ever imagined I would venture. I felt like I had a front row seat to thirty years of state government unfolding before my eyes. He instructed me in the nuances of political maneuvering. He explained technicalities that I didn't even know existed.

His final chapter was a reflection of all the years he wrote about in the earlier chapters, what they meant to the state of North Carolina, and why he made the decisions he did. One statement he wanted to be sure to include was made by Benjamin Franklin about the country when it was being established. When asked by a lady if it were a republic or a monarchy, Franklin replied, "It's a Republic, if you can keep it."

One thing I've noticed about being an author and being the person who enables other authors is that no matter what the topic, there remains a connection forever. 

As in the above quote.

I had never heard it before I worked on this project, and after I finished, it went out of my head to make room for more current projects I was stuffing in...until this week at the impeachment proceedings. 

When I heard it quoted, not once but several times, I had to pay attention. I texted the senator that I had heard the quote. He texted back, as dismayed as me, "These r perilous times."

Dismayed is not the only word that describes my emotions just now, but I'll pass over those in order to talk about the concept brought forth by "A Republic, if you can keep it." In my opinion, failure to keep it is not an option. 

There was more to the quote, according to historians who can't find a source to the original documented quote, by the way. Franklin goes on to say, "The executive will be always increasing here, as elsewhere, till it ends in a monarchy." At those words, the woman then asks, "And why not keep it?"

Franklin supposedly responded, "Because the people, on tasting the dish, are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good."

Wow. Just wow. How profoundly serious.

Yet the quote became a drinking game. Hear the quote, take a swig. I gather different people react to perilous times in different ways. It even has a couple hashtags on twitter: #ARepublicifyoucankeepit and #itsarepublic. 

Wow, just wow. On a different level.

I pray that by the time I review this blog a year from now, we have kept the Republic strong. Time will tell. If the alternative happens, I might not be able to review this blog a year from now, or even write a new one. Censorship is a tool of oppression.

That's why we need to keep this Republic.

Rant over,

Catch of the day,

Gretchen