Dear Editor,
As our community in Marion rallies to support neighbors through food drives and donations to Damien’s Food Pantry in Wareham, we are reminded that democracy is more than elections or party lines. It is a living moral agreement, a shared promise between citizens and the government they create. That promise, at its best, rests on three enduring duties: protection, sustenance, and lawful governance.
The philosopher John Locke taught that government exists first to protect our basic rights, life, liberty, and property. When families face hunger or hardship, that duty extends beyond safety from harm to ensuring no one is left unseen or uncared for.
John Rawls, a modern philosopher of justice, expanded that idea. He argued that a fair democracy must also provide sustenance, not as charity but as fairness. Genuine freedom diminishes in significance when individuals lack access to essential resources such as food, healthcare, and opportunities for personal and professional development. When citizens step up, as Marion has, to support those whose SNAP benefits have been reduced, they help fulfill democracy’s deeper moral promise: that everyone deserves dignity and a fair chance to thrive.
And John Dewey, the great American pragmatist, believed democracy is “a way of life.” According to Dewey, effective governance relies on active participation, where individuals come together to learn, discuss, and work collectively for the common good. Every can of food, every act of giving, every civic conversation becomes part of that shared democratic education.
When we protect one another, sustain one another, and govern together, democracy ceases to be an abstract idea. It becomes something visible and alive, something we practice every day in Marion. By helping to feed our neighbors, we are not just meeting a need; we are keeping faith with the truest meaning of democracy itself.
Sincerely,
Eileen J. Marum, Marion
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