Truth, justice and the American way
What makes America so special?
Our Republic is not only the world’s oldest living democracy, but also a symbol of hope. Alexis de Tocqueville famously observed:
“America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
The people who settled our country took enormous risks for the chance to give their children a better life. Our Founders lived in a world in which authoritarian rule was the norm, and rulers claimed the powers and assets of the state as their own personal property. They believed in personal responsibility and that communities, churches and other organizations should look after the people in their neighborhoods.
America is the land of opportunity. We embrace pluralism, freedom of religion, and the rule of law. We welcome immigrants, and appoint civil servants based on their competence, not their loyalty to a particular administration. Anyone, regardless of background or economic station, can achieve their wildest dreams.
Millions of immigrants have made America their home, attracted by the American Dream and the promise of liberty and justice for all. My father fled Hungary in 1956 to escape the institutionalized mistrust, fear of retribution, corruption, nepotism, and lack of human dignity of Soviet rule. He saw America as a beacon of hope and was drawn to our strong democracy, rule of law, system of justice, and moral stance in the global fight against oppression and injustice.
Our culture celebrates those values. We are the home to Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan. Children around the world idolize American heroes like Superman, Rocky, and Indiana Jones. They are inspired by stories like Star Wars, Aladdin, and the Lion King where the little guy overcomes all odds to defeat the forces of evil. The can-do American spirit is captured in songs like “Rock Around The Clock” and by artists such as Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley.
America was founded on the premise that all men are created equal and that nobody — not even the president — is above the law.
The threat we now face
“Despotism often presents itself as the repairer of all the ills suffered, the support of just rights, defender of the oppressed, and founder of order.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville
And yet over the past 25 years, the gears of our democracy have rusted and ground to a halt. Fealty to party now takes precedence over the oath to the Constitution. The focus of leaders in today’s government is the failure of the opposing party, rather than working with them to achieve the best outcome for our country.
Government policies have driven the gap between rich and poor to levels unseen since before the Great Depression. More importantly, technology, globalization, and demographic and social trends have led many white Protestant males to find themselves displaced as the dominant group in our society.
This has increased the appeal of nationalist demagogues who promise to restore the status of the once-dominant group and eliminate perceived internal enemies that they blame for the nation’s ills.
The four criteria of an authoritarian leader are:
- Rejecting or showing weak commitment to democratic rules.
- Denying the legitimacy of political opponents.
- Encouraging or tolerating violence.
- A readiness to stifle or limit civil liberties of opponents, including media.
Prior to Trump, no U.S. president had displayed any of these traits, let alone all of them. Yet since taking office he has:
- Publicly undermined the institutions that underpin our democracy and publicly attacked anyone acting against his interests, including his own cabinet members.
- Sought to overturn an election that he lost and waged a wildly effective disinformation campaign to undermine its legitimacy.
- Encouraged violence by defending vigilante murderer Kyle Rittenhouse and refusing to condemn death threats against public servants who stand in his way.
- Demonized the media, intimidated legitimate whistleblowers, and filed multiple lawsuits to make it prohibitively costly to publish stories critical of him.
- Pardoned war criminals, embraced brutal dictators, and co-opted language used by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong to justify the repression and extermination of anyone who in any way disagreed with them.
The threat to our Constitution has not ended with the electoral victory over Trump. While past presidents often sought to unite us against an external enemy, no president or party since the Civil War had ever sought to divide us by vilifying Americans with opposing viewpoints. Our Republic cannot survive if half of the country views the other half as an existential threat. As General Mattis wrote:
“The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer’. Our American answer [was] In ‘Union there is Strength’”
Or as President Lincoln more succinctly put it:
“A house divided cannot stand.”
We must bring together all Americans — from liberal elites in New York City to conservative farmers in rural Arkansas — to preserve our great American experiment. Together, we must reject the autocratic vision of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Bill Barr; and replace it with one based on respect for our Constitution and the rule of law.
How to save the great American experiment
We defeated the Nazis in the 1940s.
We defeated the Soviets in the 1980s.
Now we have to defeat the forces of authoritarianism right here at home.
We have a chance to shape the 21st century to be one where every person can achieve the American dream, regardless of background or economic situation. Where we instill in our children the values, morals and ethics of our country. Where police earn the respect of the community they serve and our veterans are treated with the dignity they deserve. Where corruption is rooted out and those who preach hate and division are ostracized and marginalized.
To do so, we must first agree on common goals and have vigorous debates on the best way of achieving them. We must be willing to compromise on solutions that embrace different perspectives, beliefs and points of view — just as our Founding Fathers did during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. And we need to take the following steps to prevent authoritarianism from ever being able to take hold in the future:
- Fortify our system of checks and balances and reestablish the powers and limitations of each branch of government
- Restore trust in our institutions by increasing transparency, reinstating safeguards (such as the Fairness Doctrine), and combating disinformation through a public-private partnership that discredits any false claims before they take root.
- Devolve power back to the states so that local governments can come up with solutions that are tailored to the needs and opinions of their constituents.
- Revive American ideals through a renewed focus on civic education, and rebuild civic connectedness through a new national service campaign
- Fight corruption by prosecuting abuses at all levels of government and removing the allure of corruption by increasing the salaries of public officials to closer to what they would earn in the private sector
One Nation. Under God. Indivisible. With Liberty and Justice For All.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 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….”
— Declaration of Independence
