Mayflower and People Power, 400 Years Later

The origins of our present system of government in the United States stretch back long before those momentous days of the 18th Century, to when Europeans first settled on these shores.

One such impactful event happened 400 years ago today, the signing of the Mayflower Compact.

It's not that long of a document, but had incredible power.  Those who sailed onboard the Mayflower, both Pilgrim separatists and other English travelers, landed far from their intended destination in the northern reaches of the Virginia company's lands.

Having reached a different spot, the Pilgrim Separatists decided to form their own system of governance to maintain order in their new settlement.

This document provided a framework that bound the settlers together in a relationship in which they would form laws and govern themselves for the benefit of each other.  It was furthermore done with a bold vision, as they had taken this journey for the glory of God, and set that principle as their aim so that they would glorify God by forming a new government in a new land in which they would mutually hold to a structure for the benefit of the common good.

This occasion brings to mind the words of the 2nd verse of "America, the Beautiful", for it was those pilgrims who made a new way for freedom in North America, and I pray that God mends our flaws and confirms liberty in our laws, hearkening back to the structure established 400 years ago today.

I still remember when I learned in school that the term democracy comes from Greek: "demo" meaning people and "kratos" meaning power or rule.  I see that manifested in the structure established by the Mayflower Compact.

That framework echoes across the ages to the founding of the United States, when people came together to form a new system of government where they would govern themselves, rather than hand that authority over to a single ruler or small group of rulers.  This principle was then embodied in the US Constitution, whose creation was an act of a large group of people getting together to form their own government, something nearly unheard of in the word at that time.

And it continues to this day, especially as I got to see it earlier this month when I served once again as an election judge for the 16th precinct of Oak Park.

Despite the record numbers of people voting ahead of Election Day through various means, which caused a somewhat lower turnout on Election Day itself, we still had a fairly large number of people come to vote.

While it goes beyond saying that it's a long, exhausting day, it's also exhilarating and exciting to see the democratic process of the Republic of the USA in action when people come to vote.  It's exciting to be part of facilitating the process whereby people come to participate in this process of government by casting their votes, as their way of speaking their minds about who should be part of the government and how it should act.  Furthermore, it's meaningful for me personally to see so many people I know in the community come to vote, including people from Church, and especially parents of former and current RE students.  And it was a generally great weather day as I stood outside directing people.  (I also enjoyed being back inside the Maze Branch of the Oak Park Public Library for the first time since March, which is a place of great meaning to my growth as a person.)  I was also pleased to see that one of my former students served as an election judge for the other precinct located at Maze Library.  The 16th precinct also had a high school student election judge, along with a college student working a polling place for the first team.

While it's true that our form of government in the USA, like all systems created and maintained by flawed people, is not perfect, I still marvel at how amazing this system is.  Even when problems arise when certain powerful individuals skew the system toward their interests, there's still hope that people can rise up and steer it back to benefit all people.  Because this system is of the people, it can still be shaped by those who participate and contribute their input.  Indeed, we all have the chance to make something of it, and that's the beauty of a system created by people joining together to govern themselves.  We share the experience of being free together, as we all contribute to upholding the common good.

With such a great heritage of liberty that hearkens back to the Mayflower Compact, and which I feel today, especially serving as an election judge, I continue to declare that I am proud to be a citizen of the United States, and take my part in directing the proceedings of this country.

Early in the morning of November 3, 2020, I drew the blue line in the photo above in blue chalk on the sidewalk marking 100 feet from the entrance to the polling place for the 16th precinct at the Maze Branch Library, where people participated in our shared government.