“Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.” Hubert Humphrey as quoted in “The Knightstown Banner” masthead.
Summer evenings on the front porch swing with my parents taught me to appreciate America. Swinging gently, they’d talk about whatever struck their fancy. “Well, here we are already at the 4th of July.” “You know, Earl, I was thinking. Even though we had the Depression and the War, we’re pretty lucky here in America.”
“You’re right about that, Ruth. Sometimes I wonder how they beat the English who had the strongest army in the world. And then to come up with the Constitution and the system of government that we have. I was reading an article about George Washington that said that they even offered him the chance to be king, and he turned it down.”
“I shudder when I think about that snapshot that Orville (Jones) took of the pile of emaciated bodies when they liberated a little concentration camp during World War II, and I wonder what Europe would’ve been like if we hadn’t entered the war.”
Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, “The birthday of a new world is at hand.” The American Revolution was more than the military defeat of the world’s greatest power. It was a triumph of fresh ideas and of a spirit of compromise. We viewed the Founders as saints. The reality was more complex, according to David McCullough in his fine biography of John Adams. Adams said, “We were about one third Tories, and one third timid, and one third true blue,” wrote Adams.
There were bitter arguments during the Continental Congress. John Dickinson who opposed independence argued so vehemently with Adams that they quit speaking. During an election after the Revolution, Adams said that if Jefferson were elected, incest would be rampant!
One of my heroes, John Dickinson, refused to vote for independence, but absented himself from the voting so that the Congress could speak with one voice. Then, even though he was ill and exhausted, he rode off at the head of the first troops to march out of Philadelphia.
And these days? These days movie stars and others petulantly swear they’ll leave America if their candidate doesn’t win. Perhaps they should move to Saudi Arabia where women are denied basic rights. Maybe they’d prefer the Congo where an e-mail acquaintance begged me to take one of her daughters so that she would have a better life. Or perhaps they might enjoy North Korea. Ask yourself, why do millions of Mexicans risk their lives to come here?
Both liberals and conservatives puff that they’re going to take back America. I believe that all Americans, even the ones with whom I disagree, have ownership in America which has managed to survive regardless of who was in power.
Latter-day muckrakers see nothing good about America even though they have had the benefited from a good education and the affluence that permits automobiles and vacation homes.
I sincerely pity the next President who will have to deal with a society who wants instant gratification without sacrificing or paying for it, self-anointed, self-righteous people who believe theirs is the only way, and a Congress that won’t compromise.
American voters are looking for someone who combines the attributes of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts , Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, and Reagan. I have news for them: Not in this lifetime! wclarke@comcast.net