A RETURN TO THE TIES THAT BIND

A nation seemingly anesthetized to violence as a political tool, sees an opportunity for reclamation of the American Promise

ARE WE SURPRISED ?

Over the weekend, I spent some time with a friend, discussing the political environment before and after Saturday’s rally and shooting in Pennsylvania. For clarity and context, I have never voted for President Trump. Nor President Biden. Nor Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or George W. Bush.

I asked my friend if they expressed any surprise that federal, state and local governments have independently brought forth nearly 100 charges against former President Trump. They replied “No”.

I asked them if they were surprised that guilty verdicts were issued in the cases that have come to initial judgments. They replied “No”.

I asked if they were surprised that Democrats were calling for former President Trump to step down from his prospective nomination as the GOP candidate for the presidency. They replied “No”.

Finally, I asked, “Are you surprised an attempt was made on President Trump’s life”?

They replied, “No”.

We are at a new crossroads in how we as Americans view the political process.

A NEW TOOLBOX

Unfortunately, we’ve now become accustomed to the demonization of political candidates and office holders. They have become less human to us, on either side of the political spectrum. We have adopted a comfort with defining those we disagree with as The Others. And of course, there is a media and political class that rakes in billions in advertising spend in attacking The Others.

The use of courts, juries, election laws, vitriolic language and unsubstantiated accusations are now elements of the political toolbox in the United States. Assassination, well, that just happens to be an unsurprising byproduct when using such tools. While a direct line of culpability would be difficult and perhaps irresponsible to draw, those who implement these tools can reasonably be described as enemies of the Constitution. Often, they also happen to be responsible for preserving constitutional law and efficiently and fairly operating the executive branch of government. That dichotomy requires some resolution, and time is not on the public’s side.

While in practice, the democratic process is highly engineered, if we’re to believe the talking heads in the media, the democratic process is in tatters and on the verge of collapse.

A DEMOCRACY. A REPUBLIC. AN ABDICATION OF FREEDOM.

The term and tone of democracy have been bounced around in the media and among the political class an awful lot this election cycle. The importance of democracy, the criticality of this election cycle to the preservation of democracy, the threats to democracy posed by certain parties, candidates and their supporters. Democracy has been positioned as a nebulous Holy Grail for American political discourse, it seems.

On the face of it, democracy is a laudable political and social concept. Giving voice to everyone and by winning the preponderance of voices, accepting and acting upon the mandates bestowed upon candidates by the electorate. In practice, no matter who wins the majority or plurality of the vote, a whole lot of folks are left voiceless. Beyond that, they believe themselves to be powerless and disconnected from the political process and any resulting regulations, laws, etc. We vote, we hope for the best, and we live with the result. It hasn’t been an inspiring equation for Americans for quite some time.

What is missing from the public discourse, I believe, is that in a republic like the United States, democracy is not the unassailable foundation. Natural rights, on the other hand, quite clearly are. Freedom, established as the highest human value to attain and preserve, was at the center of our rebellion in 1776, and enshrined in our Constitution - albeit in a drawn out, imperfect, opaque and historically inconsistent manner. Nonetheless, freedom remains the galvanizing force in the American brand of government: A Republic conducting The Great Experiment.

The Great Experiment fell into the hands of some “mad scientists” in 1913, when all branches of government and a more mature banking system informally collaborated to introduce the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service. This gave birth to what some now call the ‘deep state’. The freedoms enjoyed by states, cities, counties, and the citizenry encountered a new filtration device. The federal government’s role congealed and gained a higher profile for the first time in over a century. The coming wars and economic crashes and the New World Order of the West vs. Communism created a century of ever-expanding federal power, size and indebtedness. Soon, that indebtedness moved beyond the American creditor to obligations owed to some of our toughest economic and military competitors.

Over time, not only were certain personal freedoms preserved in name only, but our sovereign freedom became encumbered by debts to other countries, and obligations to the alliances we formed that even today, we fund and staff almost unilaterally.

Which brings us to the Trump ascendancy, and its reframing of American life: a long overdue revisiting of what American freedom and American values have been and what they should continue to be.

BEING AMERICAN, AGAIN

Many of us over 40 remember the rituals of patriotism. The Pledge of Allegiance every morning, July 4th celebrations where bunting and re-enactments were commonplace, reciting the presidents in order in history class, marching in Memorial Day parades, and the pomp and circumstance of the 200th anniversary of the United States, where we put away the painful memories of Watergate, we came together, and we honored the two centuries of hard work, general unity, the privileges of being American, and the promise America held for future Americans.

I grew up in that era where, for the most part, the presidency was occupied by men of general wisdom, who had an investment in character, and a regard for the office as one designed to care for our government, our sovereignty, our safety and our shared American values. It is that last bit, I believe, that requires our recommitment today.

Being American is more than being born here. It’s more than speaking a common language. It’s more than the rituals I just described, which are performative for the most part, but are the means we use to carry forward to our children the important sacrifices and victories in this struggle to preserve freedom.

Being American, this morning, means a commitment to understand why we are unique in the annals of history, to understand the brutality of governance before 1776, to understand the soul searching of the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement, the election of an African American to the presidency.

It’s understanding that being American is a fight for freedom- first, last and always. Even if that fight has to be taken to the ballot box or conducted in our social circles, it’s a fight in some form against what we see as a threat to our freedoms.

FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT.

Today, that fight has evolved into an informal resistance against certain impositions by a government that is too large, too compromised, too self-absorbed. And, unfortunately, a government all too willing to use novel and extreme means to preserve its monolithic hold over our daily lives.

Today, we have an opportunity to step back and think about how we can find common values again. How we can better understand what the rest of the world doesn’t have, that we still do. How these uniquely American freedoms are indispensable, invaluable, and have been won at the cost of many lives, including one sacrificed by a father protecting his wife and children from an assassin on Saturday.

We take these freedoms for granted. We ignore the daily threats to these freedoms. We have ceded power, control, mismanagement of the Treasury, and our own personal liberty for a century now. That page must turn. And we must honor the gift given to us by untold number of patriots that have come before us. They died so that we may live free. And come November, we have to wrest that freedom from the clutches of a political class too eager and willing to place innumerable shackles upon our hard-earned American way of life.

We don’t necessarily have to get along all the time, but we have to agree that the freedom is worth fighting for, worth saving, worth bestowing upon the next generations, who have to learn that fight as well. That’s the unity to be sought today. America is worth it. We need to agree on that one lasting truth.