Towards a more perfect union
Some thoughts on America in the age of Obama, on the occasion of Lincoln's 200th birthday.
America poses a great and constant challenge to its citizens. We were born out of a set of ideals - ideals which can never be perfectly realized. In a sense, this is the engine of our greatness as a nation.
Liberty, equality, justice, opportunity, fairness... these are the perennial qualities and values that define America. They were written into our founding documents - woven into the genetic code of our nation at its inception. But they are ideals, not accomplishments; they are the America to which we aspire, not the one we actually inhabit. They are the omega as much as the alpha of America.
In a particular time, or a particular place, or, for that matter, in a particular individual, these ideals will be imperfectly realized. We can only know so much; we can only see so clearly. We think we are being fair when in fact we are not. We see through a glass darkly.
And so, in the era of slavery, many honest citizens could believe sincerely that there was no conflict between their founding ideals and the reality of forced bondage and servitude for millions in their midst. Over time, the intolerable paradox (not to speak of the intolerable cruelty) became obvious to enough Americans that change came about. Painful, bloody change. But change nonetheless.
That is how America works. We strive to live according to our ideals, and, although we fall far short, we believe - whether out of heedlessness or complacency or outright denial - that we are actually succeeding. But it is very hard to live up to our ideals.
Over time, it becomes apparent to more and more or our fellow citizens (or the citizens of other countries) that we are living and acting at odds with our ideals. When they speak out, we resent the implication and resist their arguments. There is a struggle.
Over time, more and more people realize that one cannot enslave a human being while calling oneself a champion of liberty; one cannot deny women the right to vote while calling oneself a champion of equality; one cannot support the financial interests of millionaires at the expense of the middle classes while calling oneself a champion of opportunity. One cannot subject a prisoner to torture and deprive him of all due process of law while calling oneself a champion of justice. The struggle continues.
Over time, enough people come to recognize the evident hypocrisy - and the laws or the customs or the convictions of society change. Even so, the struggle continues.
Happily for us, most of our internal conflicts have stopped short of civil war. But they have all been painful. Most progress has been gradual, a long slow battle against the resistance of many. Change has always come at the cost of struggle and sacrifice, inspired by hope and faith (not necessarily in a religious sense, but in the virtue and rightness of the ideals that define us).
But, for all the difficulty, change has ever been the rule in America. Evolution (Darwin was born in the same year as Lincoln) is a fact, not a choice.
And in America, however painful, contentious, even bloody, the convulsions of social and political change, the forces of progress have always prevailed and those of stasis have always failed. We have never slid backwards. At each juncture, we have taken a decisive step towards those essential ideals. This is the rule in America. This imperfect, painful, but constant progress is the essence of what America is.
Our ideals drive us to evolve over time, as growing awareness reveals how our current convictions and actions fall short of our most fundamental values. This is the engine of American renewal.
We believe that we are working together to build a more perfect union. That phrase itself - 'more perfect union' - contains the sense of an unfolding process stretching into the future. Most Americans have always believed that the future will be better than the present; that the lives of our children and their children will be freer, happier, more prosperous and more just.
That is not a universal conviction. Although perhaps not uniquely American, it is certainly typically American. That is because our ideals are in the future, not in the past. As long as they remain in our future, hope and change will not be empty words - they will be as pragmatic as the hammer that drives the nail, the piston that drives the crankshaft that moves the car forward.
Our ideals define us; they do not describe us. When we confuse the two, we are at our worst - inflated with national pride and blinded by self-love. At our best, our ideals keep us humble, in the best and most constructive sense of that word. We understand that we still have far to go in realizing the national dream, but that we have come far already and accomplished extraordinary things along the way.
America poses a great and constant challenge to its citizens. We were born out of a set of ideals - ideals which can never be perfectly realized. In a sense, this is the engine of our greatness as a nation.
Liberty, equality, justice, opportunity, fairness... these are the perennial qualities and values that define America. They were written into our founding documents - woven into the genetic code of our nation at its inception. But they are ideals, not accomplishments; they are the America to which we aspire, not the one we actually inhabit. They are the omega as much as the alpha of America.
In a particular time, or a particular place, or, for that matter, in a particular individual, these ideals will be imperfectly realized. We can only know so much; we can only see so clearly. We think we are being fair when in fact we are not. We see through a glass darkly.
And so, in the era of slavery, many honest citizens could believe sincerely that there was no conflict between their founding ideals and the reality of forced bondage and servitude for millions in their midst. Over time, the intolerable paradox (not to speak of the intolerable cruelty) became obvious to enough Americans that change came about. Painful, bloody change. But change nonetheless.
That is how America works. We strive to live according to our ideals, and, although we fall far short, we believe - whether out of heedlessness or complacency or outright denial - that we are actually succeeding. But it is very hard to live up to our ideals.
Over time, it becomes apparent to more and more or our fellow citizens (or the citizens of other countries) that we are living and acting at odds with our ideals. When they speak out, we resent the implication and resist their arguments. There is a struggle.
Over time, more and more people realize that one cannot enslave a human being while calling oneself a champion of liberty; one cannot deny women the right to vote while calling oneself a champion of equality; one cannot support the financial interests of millionaires at the expense of the middle classes while calling oneself a champion of opportunity. One cannot subject a prisoner to torture and deprive him of all due process of law while calling oneself a champion of justice. The struggle continues.
Over time, enough people come to recognize the evident hypocrisy - and the laws or the customs or the convictions of society change. Even so, the struggle continues.
Happily for us, most of our internal conflicts have stopped short of civil war. But they have all been painful. Most progress has been gradual, a long slow battle against the resistance of many. Change has always come at the cost of struggle and sacrifice, inspired by hope and faith (not necessarily in a religious sense, but in the virtue and rightness of the ideals that define us).
But, for all the difficulty, change has ever been the rule in America. Evolution (Darwin was born in the same year as Lincoln) is a fact, not a choice.
And in America, however painful, contentious, even bloody, the convulsions of social and political change, the forces of progress have always prevailed and those of stasis have always failed. We have never slid backwards. At each juncture, we have taken a decisive step towards those essential ideals. This is the rule in America. This imperfect, painful, but constant progress is the essence of what America is.
Our ideals drive us to evolve over time, as growing awareness reveals how our current convictions and actions fall short of our most fundamental values. This is the engine of American renewal.
We believe that we are working together to build a more perfect union. That phrase itself - 'more perfect union' - contains the sense of an unfolding process stretching into the future. Most Americans have always believed that the future will be better than the present; that the lives of our children and their children will be freer, happier, more prosperous and more just.
That is not a universal conviction. Although perhaps not uniquely American, it is certainly typically American. That is because our ideals are in the future, not in the past. As long as they remain in our future, hope and change will not be empty words - they will be as pragmatic as the hammer that drives the nail, the piston that drives the crankshaft that moves the car forward.
Our ideals define us; they do not describe us. When we confuse the two, we are at our worst - inflated with national pride and blinded by self-love. At our best, our ideals keep us humble, in the best and most constructive sense of that word. We understand that we still have far to go in realizing the national dream, but that we have come far already and accomplished extraordinary things along the way.