Who are we, as a country?

You might think that’s a strange question to ask on the 4th of July. Isn’t that day, after all, a day celebrating what this country is? On this occasion, I think there is no better time, in a democracy, to contemplate this question. After all, in a democracy, isn’t this country what we, the people, make it? Shouldn’t we then stop to consider what we, the people, have created? At the founding of the country, this new experiment in empowering the voice of the people, none could have guessed what direction the people would lead the country. The 4th of July is, therefore, a perfect time to take a moment to reflect on the progress on our group project.

So who have we become? Some say they no longer recognize the country of their birth. We were founded as a country on the belief that a country had no right to torture, yet some push at this suggesting it is justified with some people or in some circumstances. We were founded, as a country, to protect individual’s rights to practice their religion as they saw fit, as long as it did not impose on others. And yet, there seems to be a movement to scrap this definition in order to impose one or the other religious view on the entire population and eliminate any element of choice. We were founded on the believe that no person’s vote should count more than others but with political districts drawn to protect incumbents and unlimited campaign contributions filling the airwaves with propaganda this definition of America seems to be waning as well.

It is true we were only able to form a union by compromising about which voices to empower. Women voices were silenced and workers brought over from Africa, against their will, were only counted as 3/5th of a person. Over time, however, our definition of our selves evolved. People who did not own land came to be considered to have a legitimate voice. Although it was through struggle and difficulty, we gradually grew to recognize a person is still a person regardless of the color of their skin and thus due all the rights of personhood such as benefiting from their own labor. Nearly 100 years ago, it was finally recognized that over half the population, women, had just a legitimate voice and should therefore be allowed to vote in our democracy.

But in spite of the progress we have made, we still seem to be struggling with the definition of this ideal of the people having a voice. So many of us do not even bother to vote, disheartened with the idea that their vote makes any difference.  Political district lines are drawn to benefit the political party rather than the voice of the people. And finally, there seems to be a deliberate effort to block fellow citizens from participating in our democracy. Those that are not in power still seem to be deemed not good enough for their voices to be heard. In many states, the ability to register to vote is being restricted, blocking participation in our democracy. Is this who we want to be? Is this how we define ourselves? In a democracy, after all, it is ultimately up to us. Will we allow our voice to be bought by the rich and powerful or will we speak out for an America that defines itself as serving all of its countrymen so all have a chance rather than only those lucky enough to be already successful? That is, after all, the definition we started out with.