The United States of America is a place on the map. But, it has always been much more than that. Theodore Roosevelt said it was “the hope of the world.” It has a “Statue of Liberty” in a harbor – a gift from another country. It stands for an idea – the freedom and dignity of the individual. Here are sentiments on that ideal.
“but in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get there. That’s how I saw it, and see it still…And she’s still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurling through the darkness toward home.” R. Reagan. Farewell Address, January, 1989 – on America as “the city on the hill” [J.Meacham, “The Soul of America”]
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” G.Washington, 4/30/1789
“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.” Frederick Douglass, 10/22/l883
“The governments of the past could fairly be characterized as devices for maintaining in perpetuity the place and position of certain privileged classes, without any ultimate protection for the rights of the people. The Government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.” C.Coolidge, 9/25/1924
“Poverty curtails individual freedom. So do illiteracy, prejudice, lack of education, inability to obtain the basic needs of life.” H.H.Humphrey, 1964
“What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose; the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice. Without possibility of choice and the exercise of choice a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing.” Archibald MacLeish
“The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerers for his poverty and simplicity….his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury….it was a rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers….Every religion has its Holy Book, and ours was a mingling of history, poetry, and prophecy….the Spirit of God is not breathed into man alone….the whole created universe is a sharer in the immortal perfection of its Maker.” C.A. Eastman, “The Soul of the Indian”
“Attack another’s rights and you destroy your own.” J.J.Chapman, 1897
“America is not just a power; it is a promise. It is not enough for our country to be extraordinary in might; it must be exemplary in meaning. Our honor and our role in the world finally depend on the living proof we are a just society.” N.Rockefeller, 1968
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.” E.R.Murrow, 3/7/1954
“The problem that has no name – which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities – is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease.” B.Friedan, 1963
“Americanism is a question of spirit, conviction, and purpose, not of creed or birthplace. The politician who bids for the Irish or German vote, or the Irishman or German who votes as an Irishman or German, is despicable, for all the citizens of this commonwealth should vote solely as Americans; but he is not a whitt less despicable than the voter who votes against a good American, merely because that American happens to have been born in Ireland or Germany….A Scandinavian, a German, or an Irishman who has really become an American has the right to stand on exactly the same footing as any native-born citizen in the land, and is just as much entitled to the friendship and support, social and political, of his neighbors,” T.Roosevelt, 1894 [J.Meacham, “The Soul of America”]
“Privacy is absolutely essential to maintaining a free society. The idea that is the foundation of the notion of privacy is the citizen is not the tool or the instrument of the government – but the reverse..” B.C.Schmidt, Jr., 12/5/1986″
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” M>L> King, Jr., 8/28/1963
“Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” T. Jefferson, 3/4/1801
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” W. Phillips, 1852
“No official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” Justice R.H. Jackson, 1943
“Democracy can thrive only when it enlists the devotion of those whom Lincoln called the common people. Democracy can hold that devotion only when it adequately respects their dignity by so ordering society as to assure to the masses of men and women reasonable security and hope for themselves and for their children.” F.D.Roosevelt, 7/19/1940
“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” Justice L.D. Brandeis, 1928
“They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” B. Franklin, 1759
“You inquire where I now stand…I think I am a Whig…others say…I am an Abolitionist….I am not a Know Nothing, that is certain. How could I be? How can anyone who abhors the oppression of negroes be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that ‘All men are created equal.’ We now practically read it, ‘All men are created equal negroes.’ When the Know Nothings get control it will read, ‘All men are created equal except negroes and foreigners and Catholics.’ When it comes to this I shall prefer emigrating to some other country where they make no pretense of loving liberty.” A. Lincoln, 1855 [A.Gross, “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln”]
This leaves us with some questions. Do these sentiments hold true in 2018 America? If these greats were alive today, would anyone listen to them? If not, why not? Are we still “the city on the hill?” Would any nation give us a second “Statue of Liberty” now? Are we “a just society?” Has the richest nation in world history been “so ordered as to assure the masses..reasonable security and hope for themselves and their children?” Is the “American Dream” still alive? What do we as citizens need to do? Democracy is not a spectator sport. A million Americans have died from 1775 to 2018 – does this country, in 20l8, honor that sacrifice?
Note; quotes not attributed are from G.Carruth & E.Ehrlich, “The Harper Book of American Quotations”
With Justice For All 