Myself, I'm not much given to outward displays and never have been. So I've never worn a flag pin and probably never will. That says nothing about my patriotism, though, as I do now and always have deeply loved my country. The title of this diary is taken from Langston Hughes' great poem of the same name. Hughes' poem perfectly describes what it is that I love about America: her promise. I think that promise is under assault today and may be in as much danger as ever before.
This nation was founded on a set of noble principles. As President Lincoln described it, this nation was "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." America certainly didn't fully embody those principles at the time of her birth. In the 232 years since Thomas Jefferson penned the Continental Congress' bold Declaration, however, brave patriots from all walks of life have dedicated their energies and given of their lives not only to defend the nation from external threats, but also to fulfill that incredible vision of Jefferson's.
I submit to you that those brave men and women who dedicated and in some cases even sacrificed their very lives in the fights for abolition, women's suffrage, and civil rights deserve our commemoration and remembrance just as much as do those who fought at Yorktown, Gettysburg, Normandy and on other battlegrounds. And let us not forget those brave people who refused exploitation in Homestead, PA, Ludlow, CO, and with Cesar Chavez in the lettuce fields of California. Some gave to defend the freedom we had and the future of our independence while others gave to advance and extend freedom and equality to those for whom it had been denied. All who gave are heroes.
Our nation is a remarkable nation and ours is a remarkable heritage. Our country has never been defined by its tradition or its the past, however. We should honor our heritage, of course, but we should not become too preoccupied or enamored with what has come before. Our nation has always been defined by its principles and its promise. On that score, much has been accomplished, sure, but we are faced with a myriad of problems today and there is much still to be done. Our energies must be focused on the present and our hopes centered on the future. A combination of idealism and pragmatism rather than rigid dogma must guide our way forward.
Our nation is in a precarious position today, facing a variety of external international threats. We have faced and overcome worse, so there's ample reason to expect that we'll be able to do so again. What worries me nights is whether as a people we remember our generational duty to work to further the promise of America. I worry that too few even remember that what is distinctive about our country is that promise.
I worry because America is again, in many respects a house divided. I am a Democrat who proudly supports Barack Obama for President. I know many people who will vote for John McCain and who still think George Bush has done well as President. While I don't agree with them, I don't question their love of country. When they continue to support a President who has suspended the right of habeas corpus, who has lied about surveillance programs of US citizens, who embarked on an unnecessary war based on lies, however, I can only lament that they have forgotten that America is a land defined by its promise. Without that promise, America becomes simply a proud, wealthy, and accomplished nation. What's more -- at least to my mind, without that promise, America becomes a nation without a soul.
Contrary to many whose views are to the right of my own, I see no shame in acknowledging my country's many flaws, because that is the only way we can continue to do our duty of making this union of ours better for future generations. What is sacrosanct for me is the idea that we not only can do better, but that we must try to do better. It seems to me that what is sacrosanct to many on the right is the notion that America is or was already good enough. From that perspective, America becomes not a promise to work for, so much as an idol that must be defended.
In Europe, during both of the World Wars from last century, we saw clearly the dangers inherent when the nation becomes an idol and expressions of patriotism nothing more than pronouncements of the dominant dogma. I'm afraid that the patriotism espoused by many on the right today resembles all too closely the reflexive and high-octane nationalism that was so destructive a force during the last century.
That is NOT to say that I think these people who support John McCain for President or who still support George Bush are bad or unpatriotic people. Some of these people are my kin, and I love and respect them as the good people I know them to be as they live their lives.
I do, however, think the modern Republican Party is led by a thoroughly corrupt and brazen group of individuals, who would lie and demagogue any issue, who would assault the Constitutional provisions on which our liberty is predicated, who would prey and manipulate peoples' fears about another terrorist attack, who would aggressively advance a dogma that distorts the very issues at stake, who seek to politicize every aspect of modern life from education to science, who refuse to face the new and dire problems threatening this and future generations. The leaders of today's Republican party elevate their narrow interests above the universal principles this country was founded on. They have betrayed not only America's principles and promise but also the good patriots who placed their trust in them to begin with. While I don't think the people still supporting today's Republican party are bad people, I do think that for whatever reason they are unwilling to acknowledge that they have been betrayed.
I believe that these are desperate times for our nation and for people the world over. In America, our infrastructure is crumbling, our military is overextended, our education system is not preparing future generations for the world that awaits them, our economy has left the middle class behind to such an extent that seeing a doctor when sick is a strain on the bank account and owning a home is a pipe dream, and our own government threatens our rights to liberty and privacy, including the fundamental right of habeas corpus that is the very bedrock of the rule of law. Across the globe, authoritarian regimes hold power while an energy crisis and the threat of climate change present the specter of countless wars for over dwindling natural resources.
I know that all too often I've given in to anger and frustration when I saw my country not live up to its promise. I know that anger and frustration have burned bridges that need to be maintained and kept intact. I know that I need to change my approach.
Above, I listed a few of the biggest problems facing us. Many of these problems are outcomes of the policies and choices we as a nation have made for the past generation. We will not be able to address these myriad problems without changing our priorities and the way we attempt to solve them. Of course, we will not be able to do that without removing power from those who have so egregiously abused the power entrusted to them. I take heart in the fact that a great many Americans understand this well. Yet I'm afraid that we will simply will not be able to do that unless we change the way we think about, discuss, and treat those whose views differ from ours. That is a part of what I understand when I hear Barack Obama call for change.
How to effect that change? For starters, I think we can take a page from Barack Obama himself who has consistently tried to conduct a serious, issue-based campaign in the face of petty, inane attacks and lies from the opposition and with Jerry Springer-style press coverage. We must keep our composure when we engage them in discussions about our shared future. We must not allow ourselves to act either out of anger or frustration as if the people who support John McCain are our enemies. We won't effect the change that this country and this world needs unless we can restore the common ground we share as citizens and as human beings.
As Obama says, we need to be the change the we've been waiting for. We need to have the courage to call a lie a lie and to hold the fourth estate accountable when they won't. We need to organize. We need to work. We need to find ways to inspire others with the hope we feel. All of this is being done already in communities across the nation and on the netroots, thankfully.
It is dispiriting all the same to see that work being ignored and maligned, granted. But rather than become shrill in the face of the deceptive tactics we've known would be employed all along, and rather than losing hope ourselves, we must remember that we are fighting for the promise of America. We must take heart from the battles fought and won to extend that promise. We must champion that promise. We must offer up our vision to those members of our family, friends, and fellow citizens. And we must remember that we don't have to convince everyone. Some -- even many will not be moved. That's OK. We only have to inspire a majority. As ours is a better vision, we ought to be able to accomplish that much. And if not, at least we tried. Our sacred honor will be intact either way.
Langston Hughes, again, says it far better than can I:
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
And later:
O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!
The full poem is reprinted with permission here.
Let's make America America again!