Gary Clark: Democracy Can't Be Taken for Granted, Florida

In early 2020 (just weeks before the pandemic), Smithsonian staff and their storytelling partners at the Peale, Baltimore, traveled to multiple states in the U.S. to ask residents of those states about voting experiences, the current state of American democracy, what issues brought them to the polls, how they made a difference in their communities, and what Americans' civic responsibilities were, among other complex questions.

Gary Clark (00:00): What does democracy mean to me? Democracy in its rawest form is supposed to mean freedom. The idea that we live in this environment where everybody's rights are respected and things like that. However, in a literal sense, democracy has been described as majority rules, which is not what our republic was founded on. But all that means is two wolves and a lamb arguing what's for dinner. And so that's why the founders, nowhere in the Constitution or in the Declaration of Independence is democracy ever referenced.

(00:48): That's I think one of the things we have to be careful of. And what I learned very early about the whole idea of what our self-governing really meant, and I was a little bit background. I was born and raised in Kansas, heavily German farming community, half Methodist, half Catholic. I actually went to a public school that was taught by Catholic nuns.

(01:20): And back in those days that was not unusual to have that sort of thing. Today it would be very unusual. But one of the things that has, and I relate this story often, sister Joanna, part of the progressing from the seventh grade to the eighth grade was you had to learn the constitution. At that time, Folger's coffee company had a program where if you collect the metal bands that you took off of coffee cans that nobody remembers anymore, and you sent so many of those in, they'd send you a copy of the Constitution. I still have mine.

(01:58): I still carry not that one because it's a little worn. It only has 23 amendments in it. We have 27 now. But she taught us that this is the Bible of your country, and she would test us on it. We had to learn what the foundations of the Republic was really all about. God rest her soul. Every kid that came through that class in my class was only 12 kids. Every kid that came through had to learn the Constitution. And you wonder, and to me that was the foundation of understanding what democracy as it's applied here and what it really means from the foundations of the Constitution. It didn't mean majority rules. The rights of the minority were always respected in all that we were a representative democracy. We were a constitutional republic. And that is totally different.

(02:57): It always bothers me a little bit when you hear people talk about, well, we're a democracy. No, we're a constitutional republic. We're a representative of democracy in to let people know that the idea of majority rules is not embodied in the Constitution in any way. So I don't know if that explains it well enough, what my thoughts, but my thoughts always go back to what are we really all about as a quote/unquote, democracy. And I always equate that to a representative democracy, a constitutional republic.

(03:37): It was Ronald Reagan said that the freedom as we know it is only one generation away from being lost if we're not cognizant of what it's all about. For those of us . . . see, I spent 30 years in uniform, and I've been retired now 25 years. So I'm probably one of the older ones that you'll talk to. But what we learned, and I go back to my story about the sister Joanna and what she emphasized to us from a civic standpoint of what we were supposed to understand and what we're supposed to take away and understand what it was about the country that we were living in.

(04:25): And this was before a lot of the things we see now. We didn't have Medicare, we didn't have Medicaid, we didn't have a lot of the social programs that we have now. We were truly, I don't think my father ever had, I think he may have had some catastrophic health insurance, but I wouldn't even guarantee that. We went to the doctor, and we paid the doctor.

(04:51): But the idea of self-governing, being independent, of being able to stand on your own feet, of being accountable, those sort of things seem to get lost a little bit. I mean, I read some of the history books now. I was on the textbook review committee here for the county in looking at American history, world history and economics. And quite frankly, I was a little bit dismayed by some of the things that were written in the history books. I made the point that I lived through some of this, and I didn't recognize what they were talking about and I lived through some of it. So I think that the idea and the Governor of Florida has put an emphasis on civics. He wants to put greater emphasis on civics in the high school. And he's now asked that before anybody graduates from high school, not that they will restrict them from graduating, but they want him to, he wants 'em to take the same civics test that immigrants applying for citizenship have to take.

(06:01): And that can be very revealing because some of the data you see says a very small number really understand what's going on. This is why what you're doing here with history, what this place right here represents in the History Museum, why it's so important to get folks interested so that they understand really what it is, what they have here. The treasure that we have in this country of freedom and independence. I've lived out all over the world and I can tell you there is no place where you can pursue your objectives, your desires, whatever it is you want. There's no place like that in the world. What we have here, and I wish people would understand that more and understand the civic responsibilities we have to A. be informed of what's going on, be aware of what's going on, be able to talk intelligently about some of the things that are going on that ought, that'll pervade every aspect of our life to understand what this all about.

(07:18): I certainly try to impart that on, did impart that on my children and my grandchildren now about what it means to be an American. What it means to be a civically responsible citizen. Not only to know what's going on, but what contributions you can make service above self. I mean that sounds somewhat trite at times, but to really understand what service above self is all about. Those who serve in uniform, those are wear the uniform of law enforcement or fire in others that are doing other civic type activities. A way of manifest a manifestation of the civic responsibilities that they've taken on. And we should be grateful to those and try to emulate those type people.

Asset ID: 2022.37.11.a-b
Themes: Democracy, Democratic Process, Government, Constitution, Catholic School, Education, Freedom, Veterans, Military Service, Vietnam, Healthcare, Civics, Civic Responsibility
Date recorded: January 9, 2020
Length of recording: 0:08:08
Related traveling exhibition: Voices and Votes: Democracy in America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Polk County History Center, Bartow, Florida, in conjunction with Florida Humanities
More information or related assets: https://polk-county.net/events/event-details/2020/10/23/history-center/new-smithsonian-institution-exhibit-opens-voices-votes-democracy-in-america. See Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad-XVIbusC4