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The United States stands apart from this. We are an invention, the product of an idea, the children of a dream. We come from everywhere, and though our history is stained with far too much blood shed during the unfolding of our own history, the sum total is an amalgamation of the best and worst of the human experience. Nothing like this has ever existed anywhere, ever.
All we have to tie together this amazing and confusing experiment are a few old pieces of paper. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are the only truths that each and every citizen of this country have completely in common. They are our unifying theme, our organizing principle, and we share this together because the basic idea was, and remains, that these belong to us and defend us and set us, now and forever, free.
Two paragraphs that really are, to me, the story of our American conundrum--"What is an American?"
It's not a nationality in the sense of a religious or ethnic identitity--you could easily be born anywhere else and become an American. We have a word "UnAmerican". How peculiar. Obviously, if one was not born in France, or Germany or Japan, one is not French, or German, or Japanese. But to us, this thing called "American" is laden with ideals of what an "American Way" means. (Hey, remember Superman? "Truth, justice, and the American Way." He stood for it, a son of Krypton, not even an Earthling by birth, and he was an American. Anybody ever question that as a kid?)
It was this noble experiment that Lincoln remarked on in his Gettysberg Address, and by remarking on it, made great sense of our Civil War--Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal" (snip)that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
We are, as a nation, and by our heritage, both Democrats and Republicans. We believe in the democratic system of government, and we love the Republic comprised of our states. These notions come down to us from Greece and Rome. We are not about kings, religions, or ethnicities.
And yet the GOP and recent so-called conservative thought has given us the notion of a "unitary executive" and "the religious right"--which honestly means, a Christian America, even though no less a light than George Washington pointed out this was "by no means a Christian nation" in one of our first treaties. I am astounded to this day by people who call themselves members of the party of Lincoln, but have a Confederate bumper sticker on their car (but this is America, and Eris knows, it's their right). They have sought to stifle the views of dissenters in breach of the First Amendment, they have thrown out our habeas corpus and posse comitatus (Minutemen, where are you now, that the jack-booted thugs are at last at your door--oh yes, building a fence, how foolish, I forgot.) They have filled our courts with persons who beleive their own opinions better than our Constitutional heritage. They have forgotten the genius of our Constitution, but will be reminded.
It comes down to checks and balances--for our Fore Fathers knew over sight was required; for power, they knew long before Lord Acton, corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our system (our people) has done its work in bringing a different and dissenting party into power, and hopefully the checks shall begin on what has been a reckless reign of gross abuse. Not a moment too soon, but I am glad not a moment too late.
Or something like that. It's a good essay, really.
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