WHEN WISHES BECAME…
I wish people were smarter. But they’re not. I wish they were wiser. But they’re not. I wish they were more responsible. But they’re not. I wish they were kinder. But they’re not. I wish they were better at critical thinking. But they’re not. I wish they thought further ahead. But they don’t. I wish they really believed in the things they say they believe in. But they don’t. I wish we could count on them to do the right thing. But we can’t. I wish they were less susceptible to manipulation, chicanery, and mob thinking. But they’re not.
So what do we do with these ‘nots’ and ‘don’ts ’ and ‘cant’s’? What do we do with these wishes? Well, our Founders turned them into documents. And a form of government full of ‘checks and balances’ and cautious redundancies. Full of clear-eyed recognition that, in general, many people are not going to be smart or wise or responsible, or do the right thing. They won’t be impervious to manipulation by demagogues. They won’t honor what they say they believe in.
They didn’t give us these documents and institutions because they thought we Americans were special. Because they thought we were some new and different and better sort of humans. Just the opposite. They founded the nation in this way because they knew we were not. Though they probably wished we were. So those wishes and recognitions became our foundation. Our strong bastion against human nature. And Ben Franklin when asked what sort of government they’d given us answered skeptically—skeptically—‘A republic, if you can keep it.’
So maybe we can’t. And maybe we won’t. And maybe human nature is too powerfully ingrained to be overcome by good documents and institutions. Maybe they can be torn up and torn down. But I hope not. And maybe hope and determined action can still accomplish what wishes cannot, as was the case 249 years ago. And many times since.
I hope so.
What they gave us was an experiment. They to were flawed or it would not have taken a Civil War to end slavery, it would not have been up to Grant to go after the KKK, it would not have taken so long for us to move into WWI and WWII where we might have ended the conflict earlier. It would not have allowed for McNamara to keep LBJ committed to Vietnam nor would we have been given the Weapons of Mass Destruction speech by Bush. The experiment was intended to be corrected and improved.
Jefferson believed that presidents should not try to impose their will on Congress, and consequently he refused to openly initiate legislation or to veto congressional bills on policy grounds, but that did not last. He was the architect and thus we need to think about his words, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness… it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
We have endured Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, John Tyler, Herbert Hoover, Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, Franklin Pierce, and the first Trump, but I am not sure we can endure trump 2. It took a Washington to bring us together after the revolution, it took Lincoln to endure the Civil War, it was Teddy Roosevelt who saw the need to preserve our national resources, and it took FDR to continue to protect the resources, lead us through WWII, and bring back our economy and it took Obama to gain international respect after Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm... Do we have a leader to bring us back now and can we ensure that there will be an election that will allow us to get that leader in place.
Of all the do's and don'ts the important thing is for everyone to keep moving forward. The BIG DON'T - DON'T QUIT NOW.
I hope so too. 🙏🏼