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 s...