The Light Still Shines

US Capitol Building, April 2022 _{(Credit: Author)}

This week’s non-fiction post is looking a little different than normal. My recent series on the conflicts of today and what led up to them, “The Child of Two Shadows” is work I’m proud of. However, those five articles took a lot out of me to write, both from an effort standpoint, and an emotional standpoint. Furthermore, none of the other articles in progress are ready for primetime yet.

Today’s piece began its life as the conclusion to last week’s article but took on a life of its own. I realized that what I had to say deserved its own spot in the limelight and decided to format it as such.

I grew up in an America which spoke about liberty and justice for all. To protect the rights of its citizens at home and abroad, and which supported freedom and democracy for all nations. It’s an idea I could get behind, quite easily. I firmly believe that everyone has the right to choose their own paths and should receive a say in their leadership. I wish to see Russia free from the yoke of Putin and his like-minded strongmen leader. I wish to see Iran free from its extremist leaders which beat young girls to death for not covering their hair properly. I wish to see Afghanistan free from the rule of the Taliban again. I wish to see people all over the world able to worship, love, and think as they please without being hated or harmed.

I just don’t think we’ll be the ones to do it this time. I think that we have to focus on ourselves for a little while. I think that America is in need of some soul searching, both on the individual and collective levels. Admittedly, I have a hard time with finding the line of what I believe. I think it’s personally good to question your beliefs. I think that if you hold on too tightly to perspectives, then you run the risk of ignoring what will actually do best for yourself and your fellow human beings.

I think America has had a lot of wins and a lot of losses in my lifetime. I think that intervening in Afghanistan was good, but we failed the people of Afghanistan and ourselves when we didn’t let them choose their own way forward but tried to impose our own way of thinking on them. I think we failed when we didn’t get involved in Rwanda in the 1990s. I think we’re failing to provide Ukraine with what they need to defend themselves against Russian aggression right now.

More than that, I think we failed ourselves when we gave into fear and division. I think we failed ourselves when we said that we’d rather burn down this republic for the sake of winning after we got beat instead of reflecting and changing. I think we failed ourselves when we allowed leaders to encourage the worst about us to flourish while we cast aside those who challenged us to be better because they knew we could. I think we failed ourselves

Here’s the thing. We are still the greatest country in the world for one reason: because we have the power to choose which America we will be. I know I’m guilty of being too entrenched myself at times, and I do take a strong line against people who want to destroy this country. Truth is, I love my country. It’s home to me. I think we do a lot of wonderful things. I also think we can do a great deal better in multiple areas. I think the first step is talking to each other, in good faith. Hating someone purely because of their political leanings is asinine. Believing someone doesn’t deserve basic human rights because of how they’re born is abhorrent. Believing that there is only one acceptable way to do things is more damaging than it is helpful. Fact is, we live in a gigantic country, with a wide variety of people. America can never be one size fits all. That diversity is what makes us beautiful. The fact that people all over the world choose to come here for the freedoms and opportunities we provide is magical. However, that comes with its burden: it is the responsibility of every American to build the Great Society we claim to be.

America is at its best when it strives for its ideals. When it reaches, not merely for common ground, but for higher ground. When we stand up and say, “Here is what we believe” and we follow through. I think we tend to expect too little of ourselves. I think that our leaders should be the kindest, most empathetic, most intelligent among us, with the strongest sense of duty and integrity. I think we often choose the easy path in our politics, giving into fear and division. I think we betray our principles for an easy win.

Personally, I don’t think Donald Trump represents the conservative movement. I don’t think that his character represents what America should aspire to be. I seldom hear policy positions from him, only sentiments of hatred, fear, and division. I have heard echoes of Hitler in his rhetoric for years, and it’s honestly concerning. America, as a society, deserves better. I’m of a more liberal mindset myself, and I have an ideological opposition to Donald Trump’s stated positions. But I think nominating a failed casino mogul under multiple indictments who chooses to insult our friends and allies openly, and praise those whom most of the world reviles, like Vladimir Putin, isn’t America doing its best. I think he’s emblematic of the demagoguery we’ve been so willing to accept for so long because we don’t love ourselves enough to admit that we deserve better.

Democracy is a beautiful thing. There’s a line from the TV show The Newsroom that summarizes what’s always been great about American democracy. In the last scene of the third episode of the first season, entitled “The 112^th Congress”, Will McAvoy (played by Jeff Daniels) says, “Every two years we drive to a fire station and overthrow the government. And there isn’t a policeman in the street.”

And damn if that doesn’t summarize it all perfectly. Because every two years, we do get to go to our local high school or post office, overthrow the government by design, and walk away satisfied that we took part in our democracy. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. I think it’s important to remember that progress is made in small steps. That our leaders have to answer to us, not the other way around. We have the ability to tell our elected leaders to pack their things and leave when we feel that they don’t represent us. Sometimes they get replaced by someone we don’t exactly agree with. That’s okay too. Politicians aren’t soulmates, they’re buses. You have to take the one that gets you the closest to where you want to go.

But we have to take part. All of us have a voice and too many are scared to use it, or believe it’s pointless to try. There are people out there who want us too scared or disillusioned to speak. Because they know we disagree with them. Because they know we know we deserve better. Because it’s easier for them to skate through by playing to the cheap seats instead of being held to the standards which they should be held to. The second rate will always hire the third rate, so we should never strive to hire anything but the absolute best for ourselves.

For decades now, our leaders have been too afraid of being well-spoken, articulate, empathetic, and so on because they’re too afraid to upset anyone. While we may love the parent who coddles us when we’re young, it’s the parents that teach us to eat our vegetables and do our homework who help us become the best we can be as we grow older. Education isn’t something to fear. Intelligence isn’t something to fear. Empathy isn’t something to fear. The desire to help others isn’t weakness, it’s strength. Humans are remarkably adaptable. We’re at our best when we’re being challenged: by new ideas, by differing opinions, by perspectives we’ve never dreamt of. So instead of choosing illiterate, ill-tempered, illogical loudmouths who shout cheap applause lines to represent us, we should challenge ourselves to choose people who will tell us when things will be rough, who try to navigate the storms that will arise with grace and earnestness.

In Season 2 Episode 2 of The West Wing, titled “The Midterms”, the last scene features a great exchange between Josh Lyman (played by Bradley Whitford) and Toby Ziegler (played by Richard Schiff.) Josh says, “Tell me democracy doesn’t have a sense of humor. We sit here, we drink this beer out here on the stoop, in violation of about 47 city ordinances. I don’t know, Toby, it’s election night. What do you say about a government that goes out of its way to protect even citizens that try to destroy it?”

“God bless America.”

That about sums it up.

One response to “The Light Still Shines”

Dan Aronson

June 2, 2024

Hello Ryder. First of all, I’d like to applaud you on two fronts. First, I appreciate your style of writing, and the fact that you make the effort to properly annotate your work. Secondly, I find it refreshing that someone of your age is so engaged. I also found it intriguing that all of your quotes were penned by Aaron Sorkin.

That being said, I find it interesting that you believe America is the greatest country in the world because we choose our our leaders. To begin with, to quote Will McAvoy’s masterclass givne in the pilot of The Newsroom, “There is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re [America] is the greatest country in the world.” He also goes on to state that the vast majority of countries elect their leaders. England, France, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Belgium . But there is one thing that sets America apart from those other countries — in the worst way possible. NONE of those other countries are restrained by a two party system. It is the two party system that has led to all of those other issues you so eloquently elaborated on. All of those other countries have many parties which therefore force the forming of coalition governments. And that’s a formula for avoiding not only divisiveness, but the huge pendulum swings we have been stuck with since the 1980s.

And allow me to close with this. I have been extremely fortunate to have traveled a good deal of the world and can report, with absolute certainty, that none of the citizens of the countries I mentioned above, or any other first world country, believes that America is the greatest country in the world. Instead, they mostly use America as a punchline or a punching bag. I remember the six months I spent in Australia during the run-up to the 2016 election. All anyone wanted to talk to me about was what a buffoon Trump was and how evil Hilary was. They couldn’t believe those were the choices we had. Again, this underscores the fact that the current two party system stifles democracy instead of promoting it. Perhaps your generation will be remembered for finally breaking its stranglehold. Then and only then can America regain its prominence on the world’s stage. I do believe that Sorkin got it right in saying, “America is NOT the greatest country in the world — but It could be”.

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