Even as a teen, I scoffed at those who thought that America’s greatest weakness was her differences. The U.S. wasn’t great in spite of its differences. It was great because of them. Differences when properly used spark creative, hedge against risk and create the reason why all of us is smarter than one of us. It is sameness that makes countries, like crops and animals with a sameness in genetic code, weak.
At least, it was our differences in a country united for the greater good, united in community, united on a path that left no one behind – some may trail, but they would be taken care of. Our leaders understood that they had to fight not for their niches, their regions or their special interest conglomerates, but instead they had to fight for the individual citizens that they were elected to represent. They had to make choices that made the country great. They had to lift up the nation; sometimes, that meant a sacrifice or a compromise in their ideals or to their home states.
“Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide” – Abraham Lincoln.
No longer would so-called leaders compromise on anything. No longer would senseless arguments be seen as such. No longer could we the people trust our government to do the right thing for the nation. Congress became a place where work never got done, where each party used its position to argue without compromise and to fight bills that would lift the nation simply because it was submitted by someone from the opposition. The American political will no longer wants to be the collective best; it would rather be the individual winner at any cost.
Until our leaders are willing to raise America with more than their thoughts and prayers, until they are willing to compromise for the sake of doing the best for everyone, not just a vocal few, until the country is willing to gather in the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free, terrorism is not our worst threat. We now have our pens out, we will elect the authors, the story can still be written to make America great again. Or we could face our own worst enemies – fear, hate, isolationism, want and ignorance – and through them discover our own destruction.