Preserve democracy
spent the better part of my life studying American history and thinking about what makes our nation unique. Whether the turmoil of Revolution or of Civil
War; the grave challenges of World War II or the upheaval of the 1960s, it seems that the ever-evolving notion of what is America is being challenged today as never before.
That challenge has presented itself for many reasons. As the demographics of our nation have changed, so too have the aspirations of its people. As the population has grown more diverse, so too has the rejection of a past that does not reflect that diversity.
As a nation, we struggle with that dichotomy. It is a push and pull between the old and the new. Those anchored to the past; those impatient to begin a new chapter. Fortunately, history has traditionally, through struggle, been a friend to the new.
When I think about American history, I think about a people striving for a goal that seems forever just out of reach — something better and larger than themselves — something different than the status quo — but hard to achieve. Attainment requires struggle and sacrifice. Perhaps it is because those who came here originally, and those who come here today, share common goals of seeking something different and better. While, ashamedly, that historical quest displaced those who were already here, and built a new nation on the backs of those brought here through no choice of their own, we cannot, as Lincoln said, “escape our history.” For better or worse, we are the whole story, even while we seek to be greater than our past.
Whether seeking to establish a “city on a hill” in the optimistic words of one early European settler, or fighting a brutal war for a nation rededicated “to the proposition that all men are created equal,” America has always been a work in progress — incomplete — unfulfilled.
Of course, that all works in tandem with a commitment to make better — to continue that course forward and not reverse course. In the history of nations, there are no guarantees.
I once knew a history professor who was facing serious heart surgery. When I expressed concern, he responded, “the one thing history teaches us is that, in the end, everyone dies.” It is a hard reality, that so too is the fate of nations and empires. All the past empires of the world, however great, have failed or faded. History’s sad reality is, so will ours.
It is a fair question as to whether future historians will study our time today and mark this as that tipping point when the great experiment in democracy failed, or whether it was redeemed. The choice, in large measure, is ours. It is unlikely that those living through the end of everything recognize it as such.
Did the Romans mark such definitive end, or did the fall of civilization unravel gradually, so that only the historians could look back and conclude, this is where it began and this is where it came to end? Surely there was not one day of empire, and the next of jagged ruin. It took years for the marble buildings to crumble and the paved pathways to become overgrown.
Sober thoughts, but when the future wavers in the balance, redemption does not come easy. History suggests that empires generally do not come to end in fire and fury, but rather, in a slow slide of decline. This is what troubles me most about the current state of our national story. Now more than ever, we must not give up. Our efforts may not save our democracy, but in the streets and at the ballot box, we can fight to preserve it.
Not giving up means being recommitted to that vision that has sustained America — a vision that was not fixed but looked always toward a nation that was better than what had come before. Our nation remains a great experiment, an incomplete story. In all the nations of a troubled world, and despite our divisions, the light of America still burns bright. In these difficult times, let us not retreat from the bonded promise embedded in the DNA of our nation. A promise fulfilled by the struggle to make what we have better. Our nation is worth fighting for because its promise and our future are not guaranteed. Our imperfect union is worth fighting for, because the things worthy of the fight are never easy. They are always hard.
It is a fair question, as to whether future historians will study our time today and mark this as that tipping point when the great experiment in democracy failed, or whether it was redeemed.
Bill Howard, of Delmar, is an author and historian. He served as the chief of staff to New York’s Department of Homeland Security from 2006-2007.