We Pledge Allegiance to the Same Basic Values

And claim each one of them as our Parties "exclusive" banner

Loopmop bi noIPhoto by Kevin Lanceplaine on Unsplash

Feeling that we are deeply divided and do not share a belief in the same fundamental values seems to be what we have in common. And has been true throughout American history.

However, today as in the past, our most enduring conflict has been over who “owns” the values that we all agree define the American experience at its deepest level.  Our fist-waving over the gains of a partisan rival is basically outrage over their claim that they and not us better understand and live the “true” American story.  We fight over who gets to fly the American flag.

If you listen objectively, if you tune out the noise, the “other” party actually shares your hopes and beliefs and desires. This is what, I think, Lincoln tried to express by his allusion to our “better angels.”  They are the same “angels,” the same beliefs. 

Perhaps at the deepest level there are disharmonies of belief and faith. Ethicists and philosophers wrestle with this problem. 

At the practical level, however, we are remarkably one, even as we fight against each other.

We both want “democracy,” meaning fair and open elections, and accuse the other of “playing” the system.  We both want empowering education for the next generation and debate not its importance but what we see as problems with the content.

We both champion “free speech,” and see each other as limiting or abusing the right. 

We value the rule of law and our Constitutional framework, and for that reason we debate the nature of law and the Constitution.

We both defend the autonomy and freedom of the individual even as we apply this belief in different ways and use it for partisan advantage. 

As for the “American Dream,” we may omit or add a few stanzas, but we all sing loudly. All of us admit that we are still learning from our mistakes because we all believe in progress. That is to say that we honor forward looking poems, plays, novels, films, political speeches by dead Americans, if long enough dead, and debate how we should follow “the arc of justice” across any available “frontier.”

All this is said with a clear understanding that we continue to battle over who will carry our flag in the battles we are facing in a changing world.  We debate the tactics of these battle.  We disagree over which ridge to take and the cost.  We see our brothers and sisters as having lost their way or deluded, or even traitors. 

That is our history and I fear it shall be our future, for we are a people who take seriously their right to govern, to choose their leaders, to honor a government which inevitably divides the electorate into allies and enemies.

How fortunate we are, however, that we are also a people able to unite in the face of serious crises, a people, that is, united in their basic beliefs.