Warts and All
It is not to love or hate, it is to see. History’s purpose, that is. History that’s worth a damn does not whitewash over stains on our past, something that often is done in the name of patriotism. History that is accurate and truthful does not pull punches when it comes to criticizing actions or pointing out mistakes. Insisting on accuracy and honesty does not mean you hate your country. It means you wish to clearly see what it was, understand what it is now, so you can do your part to make it better.
History rooted in reality does not lionize or demonize; it embraces complication. One version of American history that’s been widely taught characterizes our nation’s founders as brilliant, heroic giants. An alternative version that’s gained prominence in some quarters portrays them as scheming, ruthless hypocrites. Truth is, they were all of the above. There’s reality and deception in both versions.
Many of the founders were slaveholders, and most who weren’t abided it. That’s not the perspective of any hate-America crowd, it’s an established fact. Numerous founders not only condoned but were directly involved in committing genocide against indigenous populations and stealing their land. Another established fact.
These men also were unquestionably imaginative and innovative, designing the world’s first successful anti-colonial, democratic revolution that resulted in a federal republic, one that inspired copycat uprisings across the globe for generations to come. They were undeniably brave, for the words they wrote and the deeds they did were acts of treason punishable by death. They risked everything for freedom. Their freedom.
On Independence Day, a former state legislator who is now running for Congress commented that “we still have so much work to do to realize the vision of our founders—that all of us are created equal.” Admirable sentiment, one very much in keeping with the prevailing understanding of what the founders had in mind, though not necessarily reflective of the founders’ actual vision. Maybe it was their aspiration, maybe we just hope it was. In any case, the declaration they all signed did not say all of us are created equal. It said “all men are created equal.”
They went on to write a constitution that elaborated further on exactly who is deemed equal, namely white male property owners. Roughly 10% of the nation’s population at the time, that’s who they made eligible to vote, that’s who they gave “unalienable rights.” Yet these aristocrats, men steeped in hereditary privilege, were both humble and wise enough to include a mechanism to alter their design as needed. History records Thomas Jefferson writing that “as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.”
Subsequent generations took the founders at their word, that defying a king and establishing a constitutional republic was done “in Order to form a more perfect Union.” In pursuit of that more perfect union, those generations altered the founders’ ingenious design, steadily expanding the definition of who is deemed equal, who is entitled to rights. Slavery was ended, women got the vote, so did the unpropertied.
Where history leaves off, the current moment calls us to the pursuit. Perfection is not the objective, we are human, perfection is not ours to have. No machine can make us so, no cosmetics, no attire, no exercise regimen, no diet, no pill, no therapy. We can conjure up fairytales about ourselves, but those are half-truths at best, outright lies at worst. Either way, damning testimony to our imperfection.
The best we can do is see ourselves exactly as we are, warts and all, and imagine how we might improve, then do the work. An ideal is worth aspiring to. As a Green Bay legend, coach Vince Lombardi, said: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Our field position may be poor at this stage of the game, a considerable distance may lie between the ball’s current placement and the end zone, but there is still a goal line that needs crossing. All of us—all of us—are created equal, endowed with unalienable rights, duty bound as citizens to secure these rights for everyone by instituting governments that derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. May we be so fortunate one day to have history record that we recovered our own fumbles, drove the length of the field, going for broke on fourth down against a furious blitz, catching excellence as our time expires.