If you're anything like me, you're fatigued by the constant barrage of negativity in our culture, our politics, and the culture wars currently being fought. And if you are like me, you’d also like to think about the positives — and similar moments of discord through which we made it through to the “other side.” It's with this mix of reality and optimism that I greet the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
As we approach this momentous celebration of this country’s founding, I've been thinking about lessons that can be derived from our history, and how we portray that history to our children and future generations. While I’m all for the national anthem and national pride, I don’t think an expression of unity in chants of “USA, USA” at Olympic events quite captures what I’m looking for. I certainly don’t think it can be found in the Mixed Martial Arts exhibition on the White House Lawn. And I'm unmoved by the proposed triumphal arch in our nation’s Capital, regardless of how many golden lions grace its grandiose, overwrought façade.
A few weeks ago, we lost the great historian of the American revolutionary era, Gordon S. Wood. He often wrote that the United States was a unique, daring, and yes, revolutionary experiment. While quick to acknowledge the incompleteness of the country's founding, Wood also cast its uniqueness in how truly remarkable it was for its time. I think there's a common belief in the basic dignity and ideals embodied by the Declaration and the Constitution, which followed 11 years later. But, as they say, “the devil’s in the details” and there's no clear consensus on how we should approach our nation’s history.
In some circles, the pendulum has swung from a generally positive teaching of American history to a period of “wearing the hair shirt.” Gone are the cheerful-yet-improbable myths our generation was taught. (Yes, I know, George Washington did not throw a coin across the Potomac, nor did he “not tell a lie” after chopping down a cherry tree.) But there are other myths we hold dear — about a "more perfect union," about equality, inclusion, and opportunity. These myths can be seen in action, through our nation’s contribution to the rebuilding of Europe and Japan after the Second World War, the expansion of democracy throughout the world, the sharing of our technology, our providing food, medicine, and healthcare to less developed nations, and our defense of freedom and individual rights around the world. All of this has been done through a combination of altruism and self-interest, both American values.
And while reveling only in America’s positives hardly is a healthy way to view history, the alternative is equally pernicious: School boards are demanding that districts teach a sanitized, heroic version of American history, glossing over the less-heroic moments in our history. Our current administration seems hell-bent on purging mentions of unpleasant facts from our schools, our public discourse, and even from our national monuments and museums. Political appointees with an agenda are demanding that museums modify exhibits and explanations, directing professionals to tell a story of American exceptionalism without flaw. One such initiative was the deletion at Mount Vernon of any reference to Washington owning slaves. Washington was imperfect, albeit a product of his time. Doesn’t his life story illustrate the inherent contradictions and evolving thinking of one of our Founders, and make him even more real?
Perhaps we should heed the words of President John F. Kennedy: “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
To ignore the myriad accomplishments of this great nation because of its flaws, particularly within the context of their times, is to demean history and elevate the present beyond its rightful place. There's great wisdom, accomplishment, and a dynamic evolution toward justice and abundance in America’s past.
Celebrations to be shared
It has struck me on more than one occasion that the national anthem is played before most sporting events and at symphony performances. Sometimes this seems like an antiquated ritual, a vestige of a bygone era. Yet, while some might see such displays of national pride as jingoistic displays of a nation unworthy of celebration, I still feel a sense of that “e pluribus unum” when everyone stands and sings the anthem — even if most of us aren't interacting with "ramparts" these days.
Rituals have value, and even if someone decides not to sing or “takes a knee,” they do so during a moment of demonstrating national unity. As such, their display is an embodiment of a free people’s right to confront the imperfection of our country, while acknowledging our collective commitment to this enterprise.
Civil religion and common celebration
I've read about the notion of a “civil religion” in America. That “civil religion” — or greater purpose, and our concept of what it is to be an American — have evolved over time. No longer is America the land of the predominantly white Anglo-Saxon protestant landowners that founded our nation. Over time, we've evolved into a multi-cultural society whose citizens hail from around the world and from a broad array of backgrounds, histories, religions, and creeds. Efforts to reverse the trend away from the more universal sharing of our shared heritage send us backward toward the moral dead-end of discrimination and exclusion.
We recently celebrated Juneteenth, a holiday that speaks to me as an American. That's because it's a moment to celebrate people whose narrative is part of the American story but so unlike my own. That means it's especially essential for people like me to embrace it.
We need to free ourselves of the notion that there's a tit-for-tat way of looking at our history, and that the study and celebration of history is a “zero-sum game.” Celebrating the freedom of the enslaved doesn't detract from holidays created to acknowledge former presidents, Columbus, veterans, or war dead.
We should use these holidays not to measure ourselves against each other, but as moments to bind us together around our history — good and bad. And while I would hate to have a holiday a week, we have plenty of room to celebrate and commemorate more significant people and events.
Flying the flag
My parents grew up during the Great Depression, were children of uneducated immigrants, and were unabashedly patriotic. Every July 4th, I was told to hang an American flag from our eave. This ritual extended to Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthdays, Memorial Day, and of course Flag Day. Did this simple display make us more patriotic or more American than those in our neighborhood who didn't trot out the stars and stripes? Of course not — that was just the way my parents chose to celebrate.
The American flag has, in recent years, become a political symbol. If someone has a flag bumper sticker, an assumption is made about the driver’s politics. And politicians wear American-flag pins on their lapels not so much as representation of a commitment to a creed or an ideal, but as a necessary demonstration, since not wearing it might label them as less American than their colleagues.
Celebrating America should be more about ideas and events than symbols. Sure, I’ll doff my hat and sing the anthem at the next ball game. But I’ll also continue to study the history of this nation, including its shameful history of slavery, its genocidal removal of Native Americans, the internment of Japanese-American citizens during the Second World War, and the dark McCarthy Era of the '50s.
We study these events not to show the nation’s failings, but because they're part of our story . The lesson to be learned is that the nation emerged better after these missteps, and continued to evolve to become “a more perfect union.” We’re still stumbling along — and there's a long way to go — but, if we remain true to our principles, it's a road worth traveling.
Happy Independence Day!
