“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America)
Our constitution establishes lofty ideals. Unity. Justice. Tranquility. Common Defense. General Welfare. The Blessings of Liberty. These were lofty ideals for the people of the time in which it was written. It is a legacy passed along and entrusted to each subsequent generation. A legacy intended for succeeding generations to receive, preserve and improve for the generations of Americans who will follow.
The founders began the American experiment, yet it continues as a gift new to each generation which accepts the inheritance. Each successive generation of Americans is charged with continuing the creation of the more perfect union envisioned.
Such a legacy is not merely to enrich us by reaping its benefits. The gift is a trust accompanied by enormous responsibility. Only as we advance the ideals for all people does the American experiment survive. Each person who calls this nation home is called also to see that the experiment survives and thrives as it is nudged ever closer toward that more perfect union.
Throughout our history we have faced enormous challenges threatening to destroy the experiment.
We fought a bloody Civil War to protect the Union and to share the blessings of liberty, freeing those who had been held in bondage. Succeeding generations carried on this trust as they moved to increase civil rights for all people. At their best they faced squarely and honestly the hatred of discrimination and violence that hatred engendered. Rejecting the vile stench of racism and inequality, they made progress toward a more perfect union. There is still much work to be done.
We have been enticed by demagogues who breach the domestic tranquility, enflaming fears and prejudices which are themselves reminders that our union is not yet perfect. Lacking decency, with commitment only to self and self promotion, they hew away at the very foundations of our republic.
Successive generations arose, championing unpopular truth in the face of popular lies, rescuing the nation from the siren call of pseudo-patriotism that threatened to dash our great national experiment on the barren rocks of failure.
Our American forbearers entrust to our care a profound legacy. If we only celebrate their past victories and revel in their passing glory, we miss the point and purpose of their dreams and sacrifice. Our experiment survives only as we take up the cause today, forsaking personality and party to embrace the higher calling of America.
Today we are called to a renewed commitment to truth, a renewed passion for the common good, a reinvigorated vision to become the more perfect union whose unfolding reality the founders entrusted to us. We are called, not to force of arms, but engagement in the public square and at the ballot box with such unity of purpose that we will ensure this noble experiment called the United States of America shall not perish.
Our American experiment survives as we the people find the courage to renew our commitment to that which unites and defines us. Unity. Justice. Tranquility. Common Defense. General Welfare. The Blessings of Liberty. A commitment to work together toward a more perfect union.
I fear we are squandering our legacy and will leave nothing but dim reminders of the promise that was America to our posterity. Have we become so jaded and complacent that we no longer care? Has timidity replaced courage so we will no longer stand for what is right and fair and honest and good? Are we so disillusioned that we will no longer rise to heed the clarion call of our better angels?
It remains to be seen if we will, as our ancestors before us, rise to meet the powers aligned against us and embrace once again the promise and responsibility that is the essence of the American experiment.
Donkey Speaks 