The Ideals of America

"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."

These are the words of our declaration.
More importantly, they are the words that set on paper the ideals that this nation has declared it stands for.

To be certain, we have not always lived up to those ideals.
The genocide of the native peoples of this continent, the use of slavery and the suppression of people of color, the unfair treatment of women, the internment of Japanese Americans, the treatment of immigrants who were not like "us" since the 1800s that continues today, the treatment of the LGBTQ community, the exploitation of workers and children, and more.

At other times we have been at our best.
When our brave men and women stormed the beaches of Normandy and Okinawa, they did so to stop two nations intent of dominating other peoples and using genocide to do so.
More than any nation, when we have won military battles, we have rebuilt instead of occupied.

The ideals stated in our declaration have not failed us.
We have at times failed our ideals.
We must rededicate ourselves to those ideals.
Over and over again.

We must resist those voices who tell us (sometimes very subtlety) that others are not our equals.
That others somehow are not worthy of the same inalienable rights as us.
We must resist the urge to become tribal, white vs of color, gay vs straight, US born vs foreign born, conservative vs liberal, pro issue vs anti issue, ………

The Statue of Liberty stands as a symbol that speaks to a nation of immigrants who first came to this country over an artic land bridge from Asia, over an ocean from Europe, in slave ships from Africa, in cargo ships from China, over thousands of miles from South and Central America.

"Give me your tired your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free."

I will close with a reminder that the struggle to live up to our ideals has never been easy and we need to constantly rededicate ourselves to this mission. John Kennedy explained both the difficulty and the reason we must try in his speech on January 9, 1961 to the Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, echoing the thoughts spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

During the last sixty days, I have been at the task of constructing an administration. It has been a long and deliberate process. Some have counseled greater speed. Others have counseled more expedient tests. 

But I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. 

"We must always consider," he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill--the eyes of all people are upon us." 

Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us--and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill--constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. 

For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arabella in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within. 

The ideals of this country are what should make us proud to be Americans, they are what we should celebrate on the 4th of July. 

In spite of our failures, we remain a beacon on light to the world.

With that comes a responsibility to live up to it's ideals.