Our Country and Hope: Why I Believe in America

We all just went through our every four-year exercise in democracy (giving a nod to the fact that we live in a Constitutional Republic). Half of the Country is ecstatic and half of the Country is in a state of disbelief or in the first part of Dr. Kubler-Ross’s seven stages of grieving. I have been both places, believe me. This is not—and I mean it, it is not—a political post. I do not like to mix politics and business (unless I am in a space with clients or colleagues who share my leanings) and never post my political opinions on LinkedIn. I do not think it is an appropriate channel for my politics. However, the last 24 hours (and the run up thereto) caused me to reflect on why I love this Country. ?And, despite the protestations of some, we will come through the next four years the way we always do in America--stronger and better than ever. We Americans are a resilient people full of hope and an understanding that we are all part of something older and bigger than any one of us. Real Americans believe in the promise that being an American brings. Real Americans believe in the hope that being an American instills in each of us. Real Americans don't cut off relationships with our family or our friends over political differences. Real Americans love this Country and the people who make it such a wonderful place more than they dislike those in power. We have a bond with each other and are parties to a social contract few of us are willing to breach. That promise, that hope, that bond and that love of Country is why I believe in America regardless of who won the latest election.

As I have told people, and if you have read some of my other essays, my family faced some pretty tough times. My father lost his eyesight as a young husband and father of two young boys. Neither he nor my mother had college educations and my young family faced a dire future. Thanks to the largesse of this Country, my grandparents, the GI bill (my Dad was a veteran), Olivet University and the University of Illinois, my Dad went to college and then on to law school and was able to open a law practice. We did not have much, ever, but we survived and, more so, we thrived. My brother, sister and I all went on to college and on to graduate school. We have raised wonderful families and our kids are now third generation college graduates and all of them are thriving. ?You are going to have a tough time convincing me that there is any other place in the world that gives that sort of hope and opportunity to someone like my Dad and Mom and a family like ours. ?

?I say all of this as a backdrop to my perspective on the results of the recent election. As I said, some of us are happy and some of us are sad. I have been both places. However, the day after every Presidential election in which I've participated my life never seems appreciably better or appreciably worse no matter who wins the every-four-year contest. My experience may not be universal as I have enjoyed certain benefits and entitlements. I wonder how many Americans can say the same. I suspect it is a substantial number. Why? Because, this is America. It is not Argentina, or Venezuela, Iran, or Iraq. Our lives do not hang in the balance of who, or which party, is in power. ?This is all thanks to great men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Felix Frankfurter and Antonin Scalia and to great women like Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, Sandra Day-O’Connor, and Amy Coney-Barrett, all provided as examples.

?Our forefathers were brilliant and brave. They idealized and crafted documents that formed the basis of our government, our society, and the understanding we all have with each other. Despite some of the recent wailing and gnashing of teeth, these documents are the foundation for the greatest social experiment in the history of the world. They so believed in this experiment that they were willing to risk everything for it and many did. As a people we are infants compared to the rest of the World but this Country is the envy of most of that World. We have fought wars with foreign countries on our soil, we fought a war amongst ourselves, we have fought wars on foreign lands, all to help protect what we have. As an ode to Bill Murray in Stripes “we’ve been kicking ass for 200 years!” Our collective love for our Country, and for each other, can be witnessed walking through Arlington National Cemetery, the American Cemetery in Normandy, and military cemeteries all over this great land. They believed in this land, our freedoms, the contract we have with each other and the hope that being an American inspires in all of us and, like many of the men and women who came before them, they were willing to give the last measure of their devotion for those beliefs.

Many of the men and women described above were immigrants or the progeny of immigrants.? In fact, the vast majority of us are immigrants at our core. Our ancestors and forefathers may have come here many generations ago, but we are part of that influx. Our great, great, great grandfathers and grandmothers left places like Ireland, Italy, Greece, Poland, Viet Nam, India, Jordan, Germany, Russia, Australia and the like to find a better life. They were Jews, Gentiles, Catholics, Methodists, Buddhists, Muslims, Quakers, agnostics, and atheists.? They took jobs as bricklayers, grocers, truck drivers, doctors, college professors, lawyers, bartenders, waiters and chefs. They started bodegas and they started restaurants. They opened dry cleaning establishments and construction companies. They went to college. If htey couldn't go to college, they sent their kids to college with the dream and the hope that those kids would live better lives than they lived. Millions of immigrants continue to flock to this land every year—most legally and some illegally—for a shot at a better life. I travel a great deal, and live part of each year in the Midwest and Southwest, and have the opportunity to speak with a considerable number of folks who weren’t born here. The common refrain I hear from them when I ask them why they came to the US and why they stay, is that this is the greatest place in the world to better yourself. On a trip to the airport one day, I struck up a conversation with my Uber driver, who is Iraqi. He said he had been in the states since he was 19 and was working and saving to buy another limousine, find a wife and raise a family. He said there was not chance that he could live as prosperous and hopeful a life in Iraq as he lives in Phoenix. He went on to tell me that, in the town he grew up in Iraq, he knows men who would give up most of their lives just to live a year or two as an American.? I have a number of friends who immigrated here and proudly proclaim their American citizenship.

None of the folks I describe above forgot from where they came. In fact, they, and we, celebrate their homelands. St. Patrick’s Day is America’s party day. You will find many travelers to our big cities who want to know where to find the best Italian, Asian or French food in town.? We love Little Italy and Chinatown in New York and San Francisco. Greek Town in Chicago is fabulous. Erin and I sit on our front porch and watch our Jewish neighbors go to Temple every Friday night and Saturday morning. Our friends whose families had their start in Norway annually eat lefsa and lutefisk (no thanks, by the way).? German, French and Spanish immersion schools have a place in our education system and we have all come to love Cinco de Mayo. Our fellow Americans did not abandon their culture but made our collective culture richer. That is America. That is the America I love and believe in.

Despite their love for their heritage and their homelands, most of our immigrants, and new fellow Americans, understood what it means to be an American and they knew it was important to assimilate into this great land and become part of something that was bigger than they. They knew that they could hold on to what made them rich in culture and to be an American. They were, and are, proud to call themselves “American.” They wore the label as a badge of honor. They sent away for family members and helped them become proud Americans as well. Why? Because they believed, and still believe, in the Constitution and that social contract that is the mortar of that construct of this nation. And, they did so for good reason. ?They had hope for a better future. The believed in America and they still do.

So, what does all of this mean? It means we are all different. It means we all came, recently, or generations ago, from different places. It means most of us really love?this Country and being American. I know I do and I can speak for my family that we all do. It also means that we have a glue that binds us. That glue is found in the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and in the Constitution and its Amendments; documents that are the blueprints for a Government that is of the people, by the people and for the people and a politico-social construct designed to protect us, regardless race, creed, or color.? It means that certain of us were willing to risk, and in some cases sacrifice, everything for this land and its people. It means that we are a free people who have the will to do almost anything, and become almost anything, we want to do or be. ?It means that when the so-called “s&^t hits the fan” we have each other’s backs. It means that regardless of our differences, be they in skin color or religion, whether we are men or women, whether we are educated or not, or what our political persuasions are, we are Americans and we are the envy of the world, and for good reason. We are a land of hope. We are land where anything is possible. It means that regardless of who won the election, we will most certainly persevere. This idea, this Country, this shining city on the hill, is bigger than the President, the Vice President, the Presidential cabinet and it is bigger than 635 legislators sitting in Washington. It is bigger than all of us. But together we are all bigger than we can possibly imagine. That's what all of this means.

We don't all get along when it comes to politics, how to raise a family, how to treat the environment, religion, etc. and this disagreement has become exacerbated during the past decade. This disagreement is why the quadrennial exercise in which we just engaged is so important. Why? Despite the importance of the Presidential election, the outcome does not, will not, and should not, define us as a people. What defines us is that 130,000,000 of us participated in the previously mentioned exercise and we did so because we love this place, we have hope and we believe in America. This is why I believe in Americans and America and will for the rest of my life.