Early last Saturday morning, I found myself up reading, preparing to teach a class, and now I’m responding to a topic that is fundamentally important to our democracy and our lives. The slew of legislation to change the voting rules being voted upon by the majority, only after an election loss, is a dangerous slide towards the demise of our democracy and perpetual minority rule.
As a father, Christian, and educational leader, what message does this give to our children? To be clear, if we allow and support such legislation and actions, it tells our children that the rules we create are arbitrary and useful only when we win by those rules and should be changed without consideration of what is just if we do not win by those rules. This misguided and wrong lesson on rule-changing can and may possibly be applied to all types of competitions, including those that are academic, athletic, and artistic.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
If and when this occurs, we have basically demonstrated it is not about truth, working hard, and winning fair and square. If we support this, we are sharing that it is not about having a truthful, right, and just political platform or ideology that appeals to the majority of thinking and moral voters. The clear message is that winning should occur at any cost -- whether one lies, cheats, rigs the game, or harms the minority or losing entity.
Is this the message or lesson we want our children to learn from us as adults? I sure hope not. If it is, then we must accept the consequences of our actions with history providing plenty of examples of what happens when you implement unjust rules and laws that are void of transparency and accountability, that harm the minority, and that are designed to keep certain people or parties in power perpetually. As we have heard throughout our lives, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The erosion of our democracy and quality of life should be of no surprise if we sacrifice the long-term health and stability of our state and nation for short-sighted, immoral, and unjust legislative wins. We live in a moral and just universe. We should not delude ourselves in thinking that laws that are diabolically opposed to the concepts of justice, morality, fairness, and consideration of all -- and of those in the minority, will be implemented without consequence.
St. Augustine, St. Thomas, and our very own 20th-century prophet from Georgia, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speak from the grave as we are reminded and warned, lex iniusta non est lex, an unjust law is no law at all.
In closing, I appeal to Georgia state legislators to renounce all efforts to adopt voting laws that are unjust and unfair to all people, including those in the minority. We should reject all voting legislation not grounded in bipartisan oversight, accountability, and transparency.
Legislators should be reminded that majority or minority status is very fluid. It is unwise and shortsighted to make voting laws that you embrace when in the majority but disdain if in the minority. This would be one of the indicators as to whether the law is unjust and unfair.
And if doing justly is of no consideration as we make laws, then we should not be surprised if we and our children experience the paroxysm of injustice which will only hasten the end of the American experiment of democracy. This is the historical legacy of unjust laws, states, and nations.
Our children and future generations deserve and need the American experiment to continue its trajectory towards being that more-perfect and just union. This will only occur if our leaders and citizens advance justice and fairness for all.
Dr. Morcease J. Beasley is superintendent of Clayton County Schools.
