This Friday is the Fourth of July. Some things we can red-white-and-blue count on.
Somewhere there’s sure to be the sounds of Bruce Springsteen and Lee Greenwood. For old schoolers, maybe even Kate Smith and a James Cagney sighting in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Weather permitting, the aesthetics of fireworks at night are a given–as are the usual free-lancing noisemakers who wouldn’t know Fort McHenry from Fort Lauderdale.
And let’s not forget rhetoric top heavy in references to freedom, liberty, patriotism, democracy, Founding Fathers and quite possibly American Exceptionalism.
But amid all the Fourth pageantry and celebrations, why not make this a reflective Faith of July as well. Why not empty our quivers of partisan arrows, however briefly, and reflect on who we are and where we are collectively. Introspection doesn’t exactly complement fireworks, but it’s hardly incompatible with a meaningful observance of Independence Day.
* Let’s start with American foreign policy. Our manifest destiny is not evolving. It remains an inexplicable Cold War extension. When LBJ countermanded JFK’s military “advisers”-drawdown memo 48 hours after the November 22, 1963 assassination, the Vietnam die was cast.
The grief of Baghdad is graphic testimony to the Vietnam-lesson-unlearned syndrome. It’s not our sectarian end-game fight. It’s not our nation to build–or partition. Recall that we revolted against those who thought that way.
Yes, we have an Amateur Hour Administration in power and, yes, we know who ordered America to “liberate” Iraq in 2003. And, yes, we have to tolerate the paid-to-incite cable pundits who keep doubling down on “neo-con hawks” and “socialist appeasers.”
But the point is still this: Where does America fit in this asymmetrical world not of our choosing–or liking? Are we in charge? Are we in retreat?
This is an existential question, not a subject fit for mosh-pit, Washington politics. We’re better than this. Let’s resolve to make that destiny manifest.
* Instead of cherry-picked lectures to others about “democracy” and its ramifications, could we at least agree that “democracy” is still very much a work in progress in our own country?
For a “democracy” to be real–instead of an ideal–there are two electorate prerequisites. It must be informed, and it must be participatory.
Informed means more than outsourcing one’s politics to Rachel Maddow or Glenn Beck. America seems to think that show-biz punditocracy, which best serves careers and sponsors, is an effective enabler of democracy. “Informed voter” can’t be an oxymoron.
Moreover, unless there is a presidential or gubernatorial candidate at the top of a ballot, it’s highly unlikely that a majority of eligible voters will even bother to vote in a given election. On balance, voter turnout is a disgrace.
And if Florida is any indication, and it demographically is, the tandem of gerrymandering and pay-to-play PACs create de facto disincentives for qualified candidates to even run. Two years ago 1 in 4 Florida lawmakers ran unopposed. This year it’s 1 in 3 candidates who win by default. Banana republics and caliphate wannabes have better scorecards.
It’s hardly a coincidence that erstwhile fringe elements are increasingly the only ones motivated to vote in difference-making numbers. It’s a perverse cycle surely out of sync with whatever the Founding Fathers were projecting with their noble experiment.
* And while we’re weaning ourselves off of FCATs and assessing the implications of Common Core, we may want to refocus–and re-prioritize–our educational curricula beyond STEM courses.
It wouldn’t hurt if Americans knew more history–our own as well as that of others. Especially those others who are key geopolitical players. And maybe geography too. Globes and maps still matter. Might as well know where those geopolitical others actually are.
And let’s make sure we prepare students to literally participate in American society–and understand how it has to function in order to work for all of us. Call it “Civics” or “Stuff Every American Better Know.”
And why not ponder all of this on the Fourth of July? America is unique. We are blessed that we live here. Our obligation is to be worthy of what we have inherited and take it to the next level–internationally and domestically. America is the land of opportunity–not opportunists.
And then quaff a cold one, look skyward for metaphorical bombs bursting in air, remember it’s up to us and keep the faith.