For the 4th of July, I will leave aside the cheap jingoism that too often accompanies the holiday and instead focus on what I believe was the founding idea of this great nation of ours.
For millennia, the commoners (like my ancestors) were expected to live at the pleasure of their royal "betters." The "landed gentry" was a term that arose in the context of a society where there were a few people who had land, and then there was everyone else who worked said land for the pleasure of its owners. These were the feudal lords, and at the culmination of this system were the titular royals who had the authority to grant land and titles, both of which directly correlated to more bountiful and comfortable lives. Pardon the oversimplification.
At some point, our founding fathers determined that they could set up a new system whereby power and wealth amassed not based on one's parentage but based on one's merit. Again, pardon the oversimplification.
I still believe that this is a beautiful aspiration: the populace governs itself, instituting policies that are based on objective evidence, and rejecting the policies that repeatedly fail. . . stubbornly refusing to repeat the mistakes of our peoples' collective history. A place, not unlike ancient Rome, where good ideas are always welcome; where we understand that those good ideas make our society better and are more than a mere vehicle to launch people into perpetual un/underemployment.
Maintaining such an idea requires vigilance and a constant longview. What may be good for today and tomorrow may be immeasurably bad for the day after. We need to be mindful of such things.
As I've written before, good policy outcomes in the past don't necessarily mean good outcomes in the future. Perhaps, we should have a conversation as to what outcomes we want. Then, we can move on to how we get there. That is the essence of self governance.
Happy 4th of July. Be careful.
That would be wonderful . Unfortunately, the two parties we have are so polarized in their beliefs it has become impossible for them to get anything done , and when they do it is mostly in the self interest of their party . Both parties are guilty of this . Toss in the media aggravating the situation and it's just getting to be ridiculous .
ReplyDeleteAnd don't say , well she probably voted for Trump , I voted fir Hillary . I do not approve of the way the media is " fighting " this administration . That's why I've sworn off every news outlet but NPR . I'm so so sick of the games .
I have conservative ideals , I have some liberal opinions .... I'm pretty middle is the road . It is my opinion people like me are not represented .... most simply turn off the TV , it's difficult to stay informed without sectype of liberal or conservative slant anymore .