Washington Post Editorial Board Opinion: Print edition 10-21-24
"America
has a big birthday coming. Kamala Harris should talk plans. The celebration is a chance to
renew our nation’s commitment to the promise of its founding.
On July Fourth, 2026, America will celebrate its
semiquincentennial. This ungainly word means 250 years of striving toward the
majestic truths invoked in our founding: that a government must derive its
“just powers from the consent of the governed,” and secure to all its people
their inalienable rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
If our nation has often failed to live up to these ideals,
it has also advanced them far beyond what anyone could have dreamed possible
when most of the world was still mired in monarchism. Our coming birthday is a
chance to celebrate how far we’ve come and, of course, to renew our nation’s
commitment to the promise of its founding.
This is a message we should be hearing more from our
candidates for president. It would be a welcome relief from negative
campaigning, and it presents an opportunity to unite the country around a
common purpose, in preparation for the hard work that faces whoever wins:
putting the country’s fiscal house in order, laying the basis for a growing
economy and providing opportunity for those who lack it.
Donald Trump released a video in May 2023, promising a
“spectacular birthday party … the best of all time.” He proposed daily
activities starting a year before July 4, 2026, centered on what he called a
“Great American State Fair.” But he has seldom if at all returned to this
upbeat notion, campaigning instead on darker themes such as the threats from
migrants and the “enemy from within.” Vice President Kamala Harris has an
opportunity to sharpen the contrast with her opponent by leaning into
celebrating America’s history and potential.
A thought: She should start planning her own alternative
vision for the 250th birthday party now, and lay out plans for her 330 million
potential guests. She should promise to work with Congress toward the biggest,
best — and most truly inclusive — patriotic extravaganza our nation has ever
seen. She could make this a down payment on her promise to be “a president who
unites us around our highest aspirations.”
Efforts are already underway to plan the semiquincentennial,
but they got off to a slow start, mirroring much of the country’s political
dysfunction. The federal commission appointed to oversee the proceedings,
writes the Atlantic, “swiftly descended into a morass of charges and
countercharges over process, favoritism, hiring, gender discrimination, and
budget decisions.”
Things now seem to be moving forward under new leadership,
and Ms. Harris needn’t promise to start over from scratch. But she should
explain how she will put her own spin on the celebrations, including, if
necessary, asking Congress for more money. She should also try to persuade
skeptics on her side of the political spectrum that the United States is indeed
something worth celebrating. “The problem is, many Americans don’t know what
they’d be celebrating” the Atlantic writer notes later in the essay. “On the
left, rejecting traditional patriotism has become de rigueur: by kneeling for
the national anthem, dismissing the Founders as enslavers, and expressing
unease at the prospect of flying an American flag.”
Ms. Harris is well-positioned to make this pitch, because as
the child of immigrants and a woman of color, she represents in her very
candidacy the progress the country has seen. But if she cannot persuade the
naysayers, she should show the courage to ignore a vocal minority that would
rather use the moment to dwell on this country’s flaws than to celebrate our
even more numerous virtues.
This would be more than an exercise in shallow nationalism.
The United States is a remarkable achievement, and it could become more
remarkable still. The celebration would also be popular: Two-thirds of citizens
say they are “very” or “extremely” proud to be Americans, and some of the rest
might be won over by a country that’s demonstrably proud of itself. Moreover,
achieving a government that does more to advance human rights abroad and care
for its citizens at home depends on cultivating a strong sense of patriotism.
If you want Americans to make sacrifices to help one another, and the world,
then you must first convince them that America is worth sacrificing for.
It would be nice, in theory, to suggest the same for Mr.
Trump. The problem is that his alternative vision does not fit this (or any)
moment. It would in fact be incongruous for Mr. Trump to preside over the
nation’s semiquincentennial as he campaigns around the idea of an imperiled
America.
As this campaign comes to a close, an opportunity remains
for at least one candidate to make an uplifting, unifying, 250th birthday party
his, or her, cause.
++++++++
The Post’s View | About the Editorial Board
Editorials represent the views of The Post as an
institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial
Board, based in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.
Members of the Editorial Board: Opinion Editor David
Shipley, Deputy Opinion Editor Charles Lane and Deputy Opinion Editor Stephen
Stromberg, as well as writers Mary Duenwald, David E. Hoffman, James Hohmann,
Mili Mitra, Eduardo Porter, Keith B. Richburg and Molly Roberts.
+++++++++
The next day I submitted my letter to the editor in response to this Washington Post editorial.
10-21-24: Dear Editor,
The Declaration’s 250 Birthday July 4, 2026, is not just for the
US. Our nation was created 11 years
after this aspirational ideal of human freedom was officially recognized by a
few dozen men knowingly risking their lives and their fortunes to proclaim it
globally. Nearly a century later
President Lincoln asserted it was ‘for all people, everywhere for all
time.’ And called it our “Apple of Gold”
and our Constitution its “Silver Frame”.
The
concept of “self-Evident” “Truths” that “WE” should all “hold” offers us the
potential to cure the global truth decay that is now demolishing the trust
needed for any democracy or autocracy to function without violence or
destroying nature. These truths are
based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” (a phrase that could
enlighten the least educated or the most polarized minds – but remains the most
ignored yet valuable phrase of the declaration). This wisdom simply suggests ‘taking care of
nature, and each other - practicing ‘the golden rule” – which is the foundation
of every religion. This profound phrase
prefaces the most fundamental short list of “unalienable Rights” that every
human is born with - “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
approved at the UN in 1948 lists the others.
Yet
with all our collective intelligence we still allow leaders to persist in
ignoring this wisdom when making human laws.
If humanity is to escape the cascading chaos of the growing number of
disruptive forces now fueling authoritarian movements in ‘democratic’ nations
this celebration must go global.
Because, it is impossible to effectively address globally interdependent
problems as independent nations. Jen
Easterly, Director of our nation’s newest federal agency, CISA, the Cyber and
Infrastructure Security Agency made this claim Oct. 29, 2021. Former President Trump created CISA and
appointed Ms. Easterly who still holds the position. She asserted that “Everything is
connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And
that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than
whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....”
https://www.c-span.org/video/?515706-1/protecting-critical-infrastructure
Note, the word ‘Everything’ is an autological word that defines itself. And includes the environment and every strand
of DNA in our bodies.
In the
previous century nearly 50 leaders in other nations referred to the Declaration
when freeing their people from tyranny.
President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961) offered the
Declaration’s wisdom then. And President
Carter’s 1980 bipartisan Presidential Commission on World Hunger summarized the
same wisdom.
With
the evolution of war, weapons, pathogens, environmental destruction, truth
decay, political polarization, and growing global tensions...civilization’s
capacity to achieve heaven on earth and restore our Garden of Eden has never
been greater. Voters and Candidates need
to wise up or our nation as we love it may not make it another 21 months.
Chuck Woolery,
Former Chair UNA Council of Organizations
Rockville, MD
*****************************
The
WP editor told me on Halloween it would be printed on election day. His edits are below. I approved them without reading them (just so happy it would even
be printed...;-)) Below is what was printed - along with two
other Letters regarding the 250 anniversary of Declaration celebration planned for July 4th, 2026. One on the importance of protecting the Mall from
extreme weather events, and the other protecting our environment from litter
and being trashed.
Dear Editor,
The Declaration of Independence’s 250th birthday on July 4,
2026, will not simply be for the United States. Our Founding Fathers created
this aspirational ideal of human freedom and risked their lives and fortunes to
proclaim it across the globe. Nearly a century later, President Abraham Lincoln
called
the Declaration our “apple of gold” and our Constitution its “silver frame.”
The concept of self-evident truths that we should all hold
contains the cure for the global truth decay that is demolishing trust in our
democracy. These truths are based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,”
one of the most ignored and valuable phrases in the
Declaration. This profound phrase prefaces the most fundamental short list
of “unalienable Rights” that every human is born with: “life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.” The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations in 1948, lists the others.
Yet, with all our collective intelligence, we still allow
lawmakers to ignore this wisdom. If humanity is to escape the growing number of
disruptive forces now fueling authoritarian movements, this celebration of
the Declaration must go global. It is impossible to effectively address the
world’s problems as an isolated nation.
Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency, said in 2021: “Everything is connected,
everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable. … And that’s why
this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation
[effort]. It really has to be a global effort.”
In the previous century, nearly 50 leaders in other nations
referred to the Declaration of Independence when freeing their people from
tyranny. President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural
address
drew on the Declaration’s wisdom. And President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 bipartisan Presidential
Commission on World Hunger summarized the same vision of a world united and liberated by
these ideas.
With the evolution of war, weapons, pathogens, environmental
destruction, truth decay, political polarization and growing global tensions,
the need to restore civilization’s Garden of Eden has never been greater.
Voters and candidates need to wise up, or this nation we love might not make
it.
Chuck Woolery, Rockville
The writer is former chair of the United Nations Association
Council of Organizations.
No comments:
Post a Comment