250 Years More?

As we approach the 250-year anniversary of the founding of our great nation, it is only fitting that we look back on the more prolific statements regarding the ideals that have made our nation so great, so inviting, and so strong.
 
From the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence…
 
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

We all know the story about King George III imposing his will on the people of England.  We know that many left because of religious persecution.  The Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Catholics all ventured to the “New World” to worship as they pleased instead of being forced to comply with the Anglican Church whose head was the King of England.  Hence one ideal of the American nation is there should be not one official religion of the American Nation. 
 
History has also taught us English debtor prisons were emptied during the formative years of the colonial period in the “New World” by sending many “prisoners” to the colony of Georgia.  Going to prison for not being able to pay personal debt is a foreign concept to this nation.  One may declare bankruptcy, may lose their residence, may lose their car, but not go to jail.  Financially, one may be down and out on their luck, be faced with a mountain of debt, but not go to prison for being unable to pay their debt.

The document also sets the experiment in action stating “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”…something that had never been put into existence in world history.  This concept and the American Revolution gave birth to the French Revolution…people are not subjects of the government, but rather the government is given permission by the people to rule in a reasonable fashion, and if not, then the permission of the people (the governed) is rescinded.

The Declaration of Independence was really the motivation for the ideals established in the Constitution.  From the Preamble of the Constitution…

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The first seven words of the Preamble to the Constitution reflects the ideal of government for our nation is derived from the people…”We the People of the United States…”.  
 
In 1863, following the Civil War battle at Gettysburg, President Lincoln delivered a two-minute address to consecrate the hallowed ground where tens of thousands perished during the great battle.  Lincoln echoed the basic tenet of our government in his Gettysburg address…
 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers 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 engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

In a speech delivered at the Loyola College Alumni Banquet in Baltimore, Maryland the “future” President of the United States, John Kennedy gave us this quote…

"Let us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past - let us accept our own responsibility for the future."  

Kennedy spoke of government by collaboration, government to find the best pathway forward, government that would allow people to cherish freedom to worship as they pleased, to enjoy economic prosperity as well as economic risk.  But most importantly, government that regarded the permission by the people to govern on their behalf.

Even in the time of President Nixon’s resignation, members of his own party advised him to resign or be impeached and convicted.  Goldwater, Rhodes, and Scott enacted on what had been set in action by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and Kennedy’s speech in Baltimore.  Government derived its power from the people, and those given permission to govern were to be committed to upholding the “unalienable rights”, the “more perfect union”, government “of the people, by the people, and for the people”, and to “find the right answer”.
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In my view, the Washington DC politicians are not upholding these ideals of America.  Those that came before, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, Kennedy, and many others were transformational leaders; leaders that made everyone better off without advertising their accomplishments.  Today’s leadership is transactional; leaders that have the idea of “what’s in it for me” hiding behind spoken half-truths and disregard for governmental procedure that has persevered and is survived the test of time.  The current administration has created a divide in the nation, pitting one against the other…unlike what JFK stated…” Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer.”  Our nation has survived 250 years, but Lincoln also said in 1858, “A house divided cannot stand”.
 
In November, we need to find the right way, we need to look to the future for our children and children’s children.