Events connected with the national election of 2016, coupled with events tied to the Trump administration since the inaugural, have force me to take a deep, abiding look at what makes America great. I’ve come to realize that for me personally, it ties into a special quality stated in the Declaration of Independence that struck at the core of my being even as a child. It said, “all men are created equal,” but it didn’t take long for my young mind to interpret it as meaning “all humans are created equal.” As I aged I discovered how notable that simple statement really was. The U.S. became the first nation in world history to make such a radical idea part of the very purpose for its own existence. Even as a child I became consciously aware of how special that idea was, and I accepted it without question, and believed it to be true. Decades of behaviors to the contrary have failed to erode my ultimate belief in its verity. I am convinced that that single ideal summarizes in one simple phrase, the core of what makes America great. Our entire history as a nation stands as a continuous struggle to live up to that core ideal, gradually getting ever closer, but never yet quite achieving it. For me, America will attain greatness beyond that of any nation in history when it finally lives that core ideal within the daily lives of its individual citizens.
Let me begin with another quote—‘Fine ideals find a poor home in the minds of men’ Returning to your quote__ “All men are created equal” and asking if there was any truth in these fine words, I’m afraid the answer is no. They certainly didn’t apply to the slaves that the majority of the founding fathers owned, nor to the Native Americans or to the Loyalists who had no rights under the law after the revolution. All nations manufacture and sanitise their own history, including my country England, to present a rosy sense of belonging and patriotic pride to its citizens. With America this was at least accentual, because America is a nation of immigrants from all corners of the globe, so it was necessary in order to establish them into their new home land. However I doubt if our immigrants, the Muslims, Indians, and Europeans ever, ever celebrate the Magna Carta or commemorate the battles of Waterloo or Trafalgar. Love of ones country is a wholesome thing but aggressive patriotism is something else and, as history tells us, inevitably leads to disaster.
