MICHAEL FERGUSON II: The silent majority is emerging

America is going to continue to be stronger and more resolute after this 2024 presidential election. The silent majority of Americans are looking forward and working toward a more perfect union, or the beloved community that was articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King.

The nomination of presidential candidate Kamala Harris has galvanized the traditional base amongst the Democratic party. As I have previously declared in my commentary “Republicans for Harris,” Swiftees for Harris, white men for Harris, etc. are coming out of the shadows and are like the proverbial rocks crying out,” We are not going back.” Most definitely we are not going to be subjected to a plan to destroy this grand experiment in democracy by empowering a president to have kinglike powers that minimize the power of the voting population.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and the Article 49 plan that is a mandate for a Trump administration is a “threat to our national security” and our sovereignty as a republic and free and open elections. Some may say that I am reaching; however, dictators don’t change. They just adjust their strategy.

If I may take you on a journey across the world to a small country on the African continent: The Republic of Togo has been ruled by the same family for the last 57 years. Togo was ruled by Eyadéma Gnassingbé for 38 years. He seized power in a military coup in 1967 and remained president until his death in 2005. After his passing, his son, Faure Gnassingbé, succeeded him, continuing the family’s rule.

At the time of Eyadema’s death, he was the longest-serving ruler in Africa. The political landscape in Togo has been shaped significantly by this father-son duo, with the country experiencing both single-party rule and multiparty elections during their tenure. President Gnassingbe’ has pacified the voting population with mock democratic elections and began making modifications to the Constitution to solidify his power.

This last constitutional adjustment solidified his legislative coup that will move from a presidential to a parliamentary government.

Now understand that every nation has the sovereign right to rule as its citizenry permits. America endured a civil war to produce a country that emerged as the leader of the world since its evolution. The difference is we still allow the people to decide the government that “allows us to reason with one another.”

In order to remain a world leader, we must remain diligent and steadfast pertaining to “protecting this fragile democracy.” Each generation must do its part to press forward this more perfect union. We can disagree on the issues of the day; that is part of the tension that produces the best in us and the worst in us.

However, these are growing pains that America has successfully produced an amendment to remedy for descendants of slavery in the form of affirmative action, women’s rights to vote, affordable health care, social security, labor rights. The list goes on and on. A woman heading the presidential ticket for the Democratic party in the form of Kamala Harris is a testament once again to America’s resilience to reinvent itself.

Whether you are with the blue party or the red party, we are all Americans and we will not have an America without the freedoms that allow us to function as a civilized nation and maintain peaceful transfers of power. If tyranny prevails, we all lose.

In closing, I ask all Americans eligible to vote to exercise that right and honor those before us who shed blood here and abroad to preserve this institution of democracy. Future generations deserve a nation that will allow them to wrestle with their issues of their day, and I am confident when history is written we will find ourselves on the right side.