Keepers Of Our Republic
Americans Coming Together In One Nation, Never One Way
“Twelve score and ten years ago, our Founders “brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”Now we are again living in a critical time, “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
— Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg,1863 (exerpts)
Abe Lincoln would recognize the state of our Union today. We’re a Nation that’s proved the People can replace tyranny with a Republic, but we’re also a Nation struggling to keep that Republic and remain unified. This struggle isn’t new. It’s a natural byproduct of our Nation’s design, and its intensity varies with the times. Our American Republic is an ever-changing balancing act that’s currently getting way out of balance. It seems that unity has disappeared into a dangerous no-man’s-land between our hostile political trenches, a place where we’re just as likely to get shot at by our own side as by the other. We’re becoming a very un–United States. Why is that?
In a letter between ex-presidents, John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson that our Revolutionary War wasn’t the start the revolution; it was the end of it. He saw that the revolution had really started fifteen years earlier in the hearts and minds of people who together began to envision it. Our revolution couldn’t have happened without a shared vision. Today, that vision is threatened by a political polarization that too often grows from differences of opinion into self-righteous arguments, fights, and even violent battles between fellow citizens. E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One) has been our Nation’s motto since 1782, but a lot of people these days think that kind of interdependence isn’t possible any more. Other people are actively working hard to overcome the disunity.
John Adams might say that before any solution to the problem is possible, the People first have to come together and, despite differences, envision a common cause. What might that cause be?
The following Declaration is about civics and politics, and it makes an important distinction between the two. Civics is about how government operates, and also about the rights and duties of citizens; it’s about structure, rules, and the process. Politics is different. Politics is all the hubbub that happens inside that civic structure; it’s about what is happening: citizen causes, partisan opinions, lawmaking, etc. This Declaration isn’t a political statement. Instead, it suggests that our first step toward a common cause is to create a politics-free zone where we focus on the civic health of our government and our citizens. Politics is essential and inevitable, but the state of our Union is threatened when politics overrules civics.
Here’s an example. In our recent elections, one political party has claimed voter suppression and the other party has claimed voter fraud, both parties accusing the other of misdeeds. Pick a side: it’s a structural civics problem that’s been turned into an all-out political brawl that only serves the few of us who gain something by dividing the most of us. But if we ask each other this simple civics question: “Should the structure of our elections be updated so that there’s no possibility of fraud or suppression or any other kind of corruption?”, then the vast majority of us would say yes, of course, let’s do it.
These days, politics seem to intentionally divide and manipulate us, but we can re-empower ourselves by working together to restore the civic health of the Republic. Citizens (and especially politicians), fed up with crippling political infighting, need to join others who believe that getting along with each other is the most essential piece of our American Experiment…and who then act accordingly.
Spoiler Alert: this Declaration re-envisions our civic playing field and game rules by asserting, in part, that:
- our independence as a republic depends upon our interdependence as citizens;
- the Constitution’s “more perfect Union” doesn’t exist in the past or the future, but is always being created now, in the imperfect present;
- our Union is more about civic process than political content, and patriotism is more about how we act than about speeches and display;
- the bi-polar model of party politics we’ve adopted can alienate us from our neighbors and ourselves;
- our experiment in self-government requires us to both conserve what's good and progress toward what's better;
- collaborative cooperation serves and satisfies us far more than competitive opposition;
- and, most importantly, the civic Every-man's-land between our political trenches deserves our primary allegiance, because that’s where E Pluribus Unum happens.
Hopefully, this Declaration will be viewed with as unprejudiced and unpartisan an eye as the reader can manage. Citizens can sometimes find it difficult to tolerate the views of their fellow citizens, just as individuals can find it difficult to accept parts of their own nature. In both cases, though, the ability to do this is exactly what healthy self-governance requires.
Keepers of our Republic, whether lifelong or brand new citizens, can choose to become better citizens, not just voters. We can resolve to learn more about the history, principles and challenges of this government we own. We can commit to protect the healthy functioning and the continuous perfecting of our Union. Sharing this resolve and this commitment with each other is critical, because it can re-introduce us to ourselves.
Productive politics will come only after we remember that we need each other for this experiment to work….because working together is the American Experiment.
E Pluribus Unum
(From Many, One)
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vs.
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Meus Modo Vel Via
(My Way or the Highway)
Which direction leads to a more perfect Union?