ERVIN: Our nation’s soul will endure

By Tom Ervin, special to Statehouse Report  |  Last Friday, I stood in line for almost three hours to vote. It was heartwarming! 

A young mother pushed a double stroller holding her twins and carried a third baby tucked in her backpack. Many elderly voters waited patiently in line while leaning on their walkers. Several voters arrived in wheelchairs. College students were voting with their parents.

Although the line wrapped all the way around the parking lot at the Greer Recreation Center, everyone was smiling and talking. Almost everyone wore masks and exercised social distancing. Several of us pleaded with a poll worker to move the young mother with her three small children to the front of the line. When he agreed, everyone cheered. Another woman passed out bottles of water to strangers. These folks were demonstrating their love of freedom and democracy.  They were determined that their voices would be heard.

By the time you read this, hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians will have voted early, either in person or by mail. Some pundits have predicted that our democracy won’t survive the deep divisions in our country. I disagree. Our democracy has survived a civil war, two world wars, a Great Depression, and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

The soul of our nation can and will endure. We have an opportunity to make our country even stronger provided we listen and learn from one another and unite around the common good. We must stand against hate and reject violence and extremism.

Judge Learned Hand described the spirit of liberty as that “which is not too sure that it is right, but seeks to understand the mind of other men and women….It is the spirit of Him who, near 2,000 years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.” The late civil rights leader John Lewis wrote that “democracy is not a state. It is an act. Each generation must do its part to help secure our nation,”

Please make a plan to vote on or before November 3. Take your S.C. driver’s license along with a folding chair, a bottle of water and an umbrella. Be patient. Thank the poll workers for their service. Call your family and friends to make sure they are voting too. Please do your part to honor and serve our democracy!

Tom Ervin, a former state circuit judge and state representative, serves on the S.C. Public Service Commission.