It’s still dark as we drive through the narrow streets to a small parking lot on the side of a hill. We get out of the car with backpacks in tow and walk a short distance to the top of a hill opposite the iconic structure we came to photograph. It is breathtaking. For a moment, I feel like we are the only ones awake. Distant music reminds me that this is a city that never sleeps. But the stillness in this sacred place engulfs me and I am dazzled by the ancient temple atop the “High City”, all lit up from within like a magical firefly, as it shines its glowing light like a beacon for all to see.
I am standing on the edge of a rocky ridge overlooking the place where democracy was born. Here the men of Athens would gather and their judges would decide important policies by the votes of the men of the town. The majority ruled. One of Greece’s legacies to the world is the form of government that we call democracy, a word from two Greek words that means people (“demos”) rule (“kratos”). And it all began here, right where I am standing.
The sun bursts forth over the mountain, flooding the valley with the beginnings of day and casting its ethereal glow towards a nearby observatory, waking up the city of Athens in its path. For me, in that moment, my work as a photographer begins.
I can’t shake the thought that for all its humble beginnings, nascent democracy has metamorphosed over the centuries like a caterpillar in a chrysalis to a gorgeous butterfly. It has changed the world. Where it flourishes, the world is a better place. Democracy is important to economic growth, less poverty, and more equality. People living in a democracy enjoy better education as well as better health and well-being. There is more justice, more peace, and less war. But like the delicate wings of a butterfly, democracy is fragile.
In less than a week, votes in the 2022 mid-term elections will be cast. While mid-terms don’t garner the attention that a presidential election does, this midterm election is significant for democracy hangs in the balance.
There are almost 300 candidates, all Republicans, running for office who claim, without proof, that the 2022 presidential election was stolen. Some of these candidates are running for the office of secretary of state in their respective states. This office typically has power over a state’s election process. To install election-deniers in these positions of power will be detrimental to the fair election process. They will have the power to cast out legitimate votes and declare their candidate of choice the winner, regardless of whether that candidate received the most votes or not. Other positions of power that are up for grabs this election include the offices of governors and attorneys general, state legislators, as well as US House of Representatives and US Senators. All of these election deniers, if elected, will have the power to wrongly change the outcome of elections and thus, discount legitimate votes.
Have we become lulled into complacency to think that democracy will always win out?
The V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is an independent organization that measures democracy. Each year, V-Dem reports on the changes in democracies and autocracies around the world. In reading their most recent comprehensive report as of 2022, I am disturbed to learn that the US has declined in the measures of democracy. The V-Dem report warns that the US is sliding towards authoritarianism, towards an autocratic government. Important factors in their determination of the autocratization of the US include increased polarization within society and particularly between political parties. Freedom of speech and expression has diminished. Journalists are threatened more and more. After an attempted coup d’etat on January 6, 2021, to keep the legitimate president-elect from being confirmed by Congress, it is not a stretch of the imagination to envision a time, a near-future time, when all the rules we hold dear in guardrailing our democratic form of government could come untethered, ushering in an age of autocracy.
We live in a post-truth world where old-fashioned, plain, honest truth is smeared as cancel culture and where the loud lying voices of a few drown out the majority of truthtellers. Those who spew these lies are out for power, the power of elected office. Perhaps what they fail to see is they are only feeding the beast of authoritarianism and at the end of the day, if they win, they will only be puppets to the one at the very top of their own shameful pyramid.
In Exodus 20:16, one of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Yet political ads typically do just that as they use sound bites to twist their opponent’s words into lies. Jesus Himself said that lies are of the devil*. In community, truth matters. And truth is one of the guardrails of democracy.
Who do you believe? Where do you get your political information? Are your sources credible? Do you think critically when you hear information in order to figure out who benefits from any propaganda that you might be hearing? Will you sift through the lies to cast your vote for candidates who believe in truth and the power of democracy to be the voice of all the people? Or will your vote support those that voice lies to propel themselves to power?
Carefully choose for whom to vote. Our fragile democracy depends on it.
*John 8:44-45: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
Text and photographs copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece; second photo on Pnyx Hill, near the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, where democracy was born.
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A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE: Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice. Click here to learn more.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
I can’t shake the thought that for all its humble beginnings, nascent democracy has metamorphosed over the centuries like a caterpillar in a chrysalis to a gorgeous butterfly. It has changed the world. Where it flourishes, the world is a better place. Democracy is important to economic growth, less poverty, and more equality. People living in a democracy enjoy better education as well as better health and well-being. There is more justice, more peace, and less war. But like the delicate wings of a butterfly, democracy is fragile.
In less than a week, votes in the 2022 mid-term elections will be cast. While mid-terms don’t garner the attention that a presidential election does, this midterm election is significant for democracy hangs in the balance.
There are almost 300 candidates, all Republicans, running for office who claim, without proof, that the 2022 presidential election was stolen. Some of these candidates are running for the office of secretary of state in their respective states. This office typically has power over a state’s election process. To install election-deniers in these positions of power will be detrimental to the fair election process. They will have the power to cast out legitimate votes and declare their candidate of choice the winner, regardless of whether that candidate received the most votes or not. Other positions of power that are up for grabs this election include the offices of governors and attorneys general, state legislators, as well as US House of Representatives and US Senators. All of these election deniers, if elected, will have the power to wrongly change the outcome of elections and thus, discount legitimate votes.
Have we become lulled into complacency to think that democracy will always win out?
The V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is an independent organization that measures democracy. Each year, V-Dem reports on the changes in democracies and autocracies around the world. In reading their most recent comprehensive report as of 2022, I am disturbed to learn that the US has declined in the measures of democracy. The V-Dem report warns that the US is sliding towards authoritarianism, towards an autocratic government. Important factors in their determination of the autocratization of the US include increased polarization within society and particularly between political parties. Freedom of speech and expression has diminished. Journalists are threatened more and more. After an attempted coup d’etat on January 6, 2021, to keep the legitimate president-elect from being confirmed by Congress, it is not a stretch of the imagination to envision a time, a near-future time, when all the rules we hold dear in guardrailing our democratic form of government could come untethered, ushering in an age of autocracy.
We live in a post-truth world where old-fashioned, plain, honest truth is smeared as cancel culture and where the loud lying voices of a few drown out the majority of truthtellers. Those who spew these lies are out for power, the power of elected office. Perhaps what they fail to see is they are only feeding the beast of authoritarianism and at the end of the day, if they win, they will only be puppets to the one at the very top of their own shameful pyramid.
In Exodus 20:16, one of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Yet political ads typically do just that as they use sound bites to twist their opponent’s words into lies. Jesus Himself said that lies are of the devil*. In community, truth matters. And truth is one of the guardrails of democracy.
Who do you believe? Where do you get your political information? Are your sources credible? Do you think critically when you hear information in order to figure out who benefits from any propaganda that you might be hearing? Will you sift through the lies to cast your vote for candidates who believe in truth and the power of democracy to be the voice of all the people? Or will your vote support those that voice lies to propel themselves to power?
Carefully choose for whom to vote. Our fragile democracy depends on it.
*John 8:44-45: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
Text and photographs copyright © 2022 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece; second photo on Pnyx Hill, near the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, where democracy was born.
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
A NOTE ON RACIAL JUSTICE: Becoming antiracist is a journey. Together, we can make a difference. Will you join me? Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice. Click here to learn more.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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