Flawed Greatness: The American story is the human story By Robert Barbosa
The American story is a beautiful one. Our revolutionary foundation built upon natural rights and the nature of man was the starkest break from societal norms the world has ever known.
The focus of the Declaration of Independence was to provide the litany of grievances American colonials had against the king to justify our break from Britain’s despotic grip. That said, something much more powerful was born from this document: the American Soul.
“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.”
What seemed like an obscure addition or eloquent wordsmanship set the foundation of the American Creed. We are all created equal in the eyes of God. Natural rights are not bestowed upon us by governments, but instead governments are “instituted among men” to secure the inalienable rights we are born with.
Joseph Ellis writes, “With these words, Jefferson had smuggled the revolutionary agenda into the founding document, casually and almost inadvertently planting the seeds that would grow into the expanding mandate for individual rights that eventually ended slavery, made women’s suffrage inevitable, and sanctioned the civil rights of all minorities.”
These most powerful and consequential words in American history shine a light on the “why” behinds someone’s love of country and certainly speak to one’s deep patriotism; however, there is more to the story. There is a tangible connection between our foundation, the American Promise, and the human condition. The American story is indeed one of triumph, but also of tragedy. While we shone bright it has not been without shadows. Hindsight offers an unfair vantage point to judge the past and to apply today’s moral standards to past generations lacks awareness of the realities of life. Moral progress does not occur in a vacuum. We do not awaken in the morning to realize we are flying, but instead we stand on the shoulders of flawed giants.
When thinking deeply about the blemishes of our past, humility is a virtue aptly applied. While the belief that a deferral strategy would be best for enduring social change and the decision to delay the full promise of the American Revolution to all citizens proved tragic and a miscalculation morally, the securing of the American nation state set in motion a journey towards the most free, most equitable, most just, and most prosperous nation the world has ever known.
So the American story is indeed one of triumph and tragedy rooted in the coexistence of grace and sin, magnificence and failure, brilliance and blindness. Put concisely, “flawed greatness;” humanity’s convictions mixed with the human state of confliction; our absolute, raw humanity, the conflicted state of intellectual depth and personal shallowness.
The American story is very much the human story. In understanding the nature of man and recommending a certain kind of government most fitting to our condition as humans, we become tethered to the beauty of our nation’s story and promise. In what may seem like a destination beyond conventional wisdom of the day, the manifestation of the ethos that sprung out of our founding so resonates with the human condition. After all, isn’t the best we can ever hope for flawed greatness? We will not be perfected this side of Heaven.
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