We the People—If We Can Still Be One
Our greatest challenge now is whether we can preserve the unity and ideals that define us.
The Declaration of Independence, Washington D.C.
We have faced fascism, communism, war, disaster, and division before. We overcame them because Americans understood that we shared a country, a Constitution, and a common future. Today, that commitment is being tested again.
Charles Dickens begins his classic “A Tale of Two Cities” with the enigmatic phrase, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”Hard times require a determined focus on that which is best within us. It was always thus.
In my estimation, America is a remarkable country because of what we have always aspired to become as a nation. Those aspirations are well known to us and found in our country’s founding instruments: The U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. In all my travels (to date, over seventy countries), I have never met anyone who fundamentally disagreed with the principles found therein. These two keystone national documents tend to define us: not based on any one ethnicity, religion, creed, or political party, but by what we hope to become as a nation of free people. Our aspirational ideals are, in many cases, wholly humanistic and therefore universal.
Essentially, these documents encourage us to endeavor as individuals and a nation to be better than the sum of our parts. However, perfection is known to none. Our failures have been substantial: the original sin of slavery; the near genocide of the native population; many wars fought for the wrong reasons. We are frail. We are subject to fits of prejudice. We are often a disappointment to ourselves and others.
However, I would like to think that there is nobility in the attempt. America may be unique for this reason: the continuing and seemingly never-ending historical struggle to live up to those aspirations, no matter how many times we fail. Indeed, I fear that if we were to cease striving to become better, we would lose our central purpose and perish.
We bled in foreign fields to crush the evils of fascism, dictatorship, and imperial ambition. Following WWII, we met the challenge of providing the necessary economic assistance to a shattered Europe in the form of the Marshall Plan. We later helped assure Europe’s peace and security against the threat of communism through the establishment of NATO, backed up by stationing thousands of U.S. service members along the borders of a then-divided Germany.
Meeting these challenges cost us in both lives and treasure. Still, we never flinched. Domestically, despite our many political, social, and economic differences, we have regularly come together as a people to face down natural challenges of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, attacks upon the homeland, and much more.
Our Current Challenge
Mr. Trump and his MAGA movement are the current challenges, and represent a clear and present danger. We are faced with executive corruption on a massive scale that is clothed in conservative vestments. Nourished with polarizing gruel, Trump’s base continues to fuel his authoritarian ambitions. We are now politically separated as never before, and MAGA leadership is seemingly bent on destroying even a basic level of unity of purpose required to sustain our democracy.
Our Constitution begins with these three words: “We the people.” Those words seek to guide us to pursue common goals as a people, and share a common future.
Pogo famously suggests a cautionary tale when the cartoon character observed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Please, let it not be us.
Originally published in The Navy Times, this essay has been rewritten by the author.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 450 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.
