For me, our nation's birthday seems an optimal time to set aside where we have fallen short and celebrate what we've gotten right.
Reflecting on our complicated history, I finally settled on the three elements below. In my view, none of these three need to be qualified with an "even when ..." or "however". For example, had I settled on the venerated value from our Declaration of Independence asserting "all men are created equal", it would be intellectually dishonest to cite that ideal without a caveat. The value is undeniably noble; we are still a distance from fully actualizing it. These three can stand, arguably, without any qualifier.
* The concept of free public libraries
* The establishment of a system of National Parks
* The freedom to practice religion as codified in the first amendment to the Constitution
What are you celebrating today?
I vote for all of yours plus "Freedom of speech."
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting sweetheart. Freedom of speech was on my original list. In the end, I decided against it only because nowadays it feels as though a qualifier could easily be attached to it, i.e. "even though some speech is hateful and divisive". I realize having freedom of speech means having to accept - or at least tolerate - the hateful and divisive stuff but given the current state of disinformation and total lack of consensus about anything resembling fact, that fundamental right has been poisoned by the garbage masquerading as fact. As a result, I wasn't comfortable using freedom of speech as something to celebrate, at least at the moment I wrote this post anyway.
DeleteI agree with your issues around freedom of speech. I also have issues about freedom of religion because that has been used in a distorted way. I am not sure it is truly free and I have an issue with other people's religious values being imposed on me and others. It is very thorny.
DeleteInes; Yeah, I get your concern. In the end, I used freedom of religion because it strikes me as less thorny than some of the other rights enshrined in the first ten amendments to the Constitution. I also appreciate this language: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." For me, that helps to mitigate "...other people's religious values being imposed on me...", one of your legitimate concerns. In my mind at least, that language can help forestall a specific religion from becoming a government-sponsored faith. Tricky, but I stand by what I assert in my post is worth celebrating. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
DeleteGood afternoon, Pat. I have to echo what has been said above and agree with your choices, adding Freedom of Speech as well. However, It seems to me that, and not wanting to take away from any of these in any way, shape or form, after 245 years we should have been able to acknowledge more than just these 4. Unfortunately, after these past few years we seem to be taking giant steps backwards. I don't mean to sound all doom and gloom, but despite what I truly believe to be the wishes of our Founding Fathers, results have not been what was intended. I remain ever hopeful that we will see positive changes coming soon.
DeleteBe well,
Bob
Hey Bob; Thanks for th comment. I wasn't suggesting these are the ONLY three (or four if we count freedom of speech) that we can acknowledge after 245 years. My intent here was to celebrate three that stand out for me and - in my view - need no qualifiers. But as you can see from one of the comments above, even though freedom of religion strikes me as needing no qualifiers, others see it differently. And that's OK because that is itself an exercise in freedom of speech. I don't disagree that the last few years have been difficult but like you, I try to remain hopeful. So Happy Birthday, U.S. (now a bit belated.)
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