Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"I've noticed a disturbing trend. People keep telling me that everything will be alright and that everything will work itself out, as if personal freedom and democracy are the default of human nature.

"They are not. If they were, then the American experiment, with all its many flaws, wouldn't have been exceptional. But it was exceptional. Even with the subjugation of a good percentage of its population, it was still exceptional. The fact that even some percentage -- not even a majority -- of the population had a voice was exceptional. Even when people still had slaves. Even when women couldn't vote. Just the fact that some people had a say in how their government was run was an exception, not a rule.

"Everyone had to fight for that. White American men got it after the American Revolution. Women didn't get it until 1920. Black people supposedly got it but are still fighting for it to this day.

"Democracy is not a default. It's something people had to bleed for. It's something women got raped for. It's something @repjohnlewis got his head smashed in for. Things aren't going to self-correct. [...]"

-- Kara Calavera (@KaraCalavera), 2018-06-29 ( original on Twitter | gathered by Threadreader)

Random awake-too-early thought, assisted by Pandora:

"Dust in the Wind" is the 20th Century "Man Mai Longe Lives Weene"^[1]. (The similarity-of-mood is more pronounced if you hear "Man mai..." at the speed Sequentia plays it. The melodies aren't similar, but the meanings are.)

[1] English, 13th Century. "Man may wish a long life, but the trick of it often eludes him..."