The future won't build itself
Don't be put off because the work is hard and the opposition doesn't play by the rules
Americans have some pretty stunning achievements to crow about. Unemployment is all-time at record lows in many states. We have largely de-fanged deadly virus. We deployed a telescope more than a million miles from earth and it is operating at just 7 degrees above absolute zero. And let’s not forget, that Americans threw a lawless would-be dictator out of the White House after he had four years to dig in- something no other country has been able to do (just ask the Hungarians).
What we have accomplished in the past few years is nothing short of amazing, and the fact that we were able to do these difficult things gives me confidence that we can tackle the many and complicated challenges ahead.
But Americans are in a grumpy- what have you done for me lately- and beside this other thing isn’t fixed yet, mood.
Maybe a little historical perspective can help.
This past week included the 151st anniversary of the artillery attack by the South Carolina militia, operating as a military unit of the Confederate States of America, on Fort Sumpter. The Cotton and Slave Powers would make war rather than set men free. Four brutal years later, with malice towards none, Lincoln talked about the mystical ties that bind us.
And we moved forward. Yet we were not whole. Jim Crow overcame Reconstruction, and the promise of freedom and equality was set back another hundred years.
Meanwhile waves of immigrants came to America. Each one seeking a better life. Each feared and loathed by some of the folks who came before.
Anger, greed, lies, fear, the use of power for narrow and tribal ends— these have ancient pedigree among humans everywhere. We are not somehow immune to the purchase of these ancient traits. Who promised that? Yet seeing them now out in the open has left many good people despondent, and others just whiny that some Americans are not playing by the rules.
Well, this is not middle school. It is life. Progress is never smooth. So, pull on your big boy pants and help us lift the country out of this moment just as others have done before.
It was, after all, FDR’s FHA that refused to underwrite mortgages to Black home buyers. In its first decades, the Federal Housing Authority, along with local governments and local banks made sure that Black and White homebuyers stayed apart. Restrictive covenants written into property deeds made the racial and religious prejudices of one generation the commercial law of the generations that followed. The word “redlining” refers to actual red lines on government maps. Cities like Chicago and Milwaukee, and hundreds of thousands of Black families steered into crumbling housing, still bear the scars.
But unlike other nations, all of whom share this pull of tribal loyalties, ours has a promise and a purpose that lets us rise above these ancient and base notions.
We hold that all are created equal. And the spark of this idea made us a great nation. We may hold this truth to be self-evident, but (just think how many people do not get it) it is surely the least self-evident idea the world has ever known. And the fact that it was penned into our Declaration of Independence by a slave owner… There are no words for that mystery.
It took nearly 200 years, but in the 1960s the promise of equality finally become federal law. The Fair Housing Act ended redlining and deed restrictions. The Civil Rights Act ended Jim Crow. The Voting Rights Act made good on the franchise.
And we moved forward. But we were not whole. It is a great accomplishment to enact just laws, but a just society does not immediately follow. It would take another forty years for gay Americans to be allowed full participation in civil society and politics. And what of the damage caused by all those years of oppression? Damage that deeply, but differently scarred both Black and White America? Meanwhile, every step forward carries the potential for backlash.
Now we find ourselves in a time when several American states have made it illegal for teachers to talk about redlining in their schools. Or say gay. Other states are rushing to join them. Voting rights, once a universal source of pride, have failed to hold in the face of renewed tribal suspicions.
Today, the Party of Abraham Lincoln, the source of much of American freedom, has become home to all manner of ancient fears. Its current leaders offer a haven to the hateful, and nourish their base on grapes of wrath.
As ever, our path forward requires us to reach for our better angels. We need to be clear eyed and tough, but also welcoming, optimistic, and generous. We win these fights. That is not just a statement of ethos, it is also good politics. We are not just fighting off a revanchist right wing, we are building a safe, prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive future. The victories of the past few years show that we are as capable of great things as we ever were. If we have not the courage to see this, and to live by the values of the world we seek together to build, how will we inspire others to set aside the habits of their meaner past?
By all means, call out the Ted Cruzes and Dick Uihlein’s, the Lauren Bobert’s and the Madison Cawthorn’s, the Ginny and Clarence Thomases, the Tucker Carlson’s and the Laura Ingraham’s for do what they do every day to keep humanity in its ancient and angry infancy. But to get our fellow citizens to change the channel, we need to offer them better fare.
Many good people across the country are doing just that. Look at the recent the Milwaukee Mayor’s race, or the Ohio Supreme Court, or in school board races everywhere. Better angels are on the shoulders of so many candidates. Go out and support them. Get involved. Focus on the good news and the future we can build, and recognize in all that we have accomplished the creativity, resolve, and talent to overcome even the bitter challenges of this present age.
