Our 250th birthday

“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…”
As America celebrates its 250th birthday this Saturday, it’s worth pondering among the parades, barbecues, and beer, how far we have come in creating a nation that lives up to the principles enshrined in our founding documents. The signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, represented the start of something, but exactly what was unclear at the time.
The declaration was a statement of principles, lofty ones to be sure, that America has never fully fulfilled. This nation has been a work in progress since its founding a quarter-millennium ago, and few of our founders believed the nation would hold together as long as it has. In his farewell address, President George Washington warned against the danger of partisan factions and foreign entanglements, and those warnings have proven well-advised over the years as partisan division and foreign wars have been sources of considerable internal strife.
While we declare July 4 as our nation’s birthday, it’s worth noting that the foundation of our nation’s governance, the U.S. Constitution, was not enacted until March 4, 1789. That was the day the United States of America became a single entity, under a set of rules that, with occasional amendments, have largely stood the test of time, surviving even the ravages of the Civil War. Our founders created a government that recognized that humans are flawed and that our baser instincts need to be checked, if not by law, then by other branches of a divided government.
Our founders were students of history and they saw how immense power eventually debased early democratic forms of government in ancient Greece and Rome, and they instituted our system of checks to protect the rule of law from the impulses of men who lack the maturity, self-control, and humility that is so key in ensuring the American president remains as the servant— rather than the master— of the people.
While the Congress has, to date, largely failed to serve its role as a check on the current executive, we have seen the judicial branch provide a powerful mitigating force that has repeatedly blocked the administration’s worst abuses of power. It should be noted that it is primarily the lower courts that have done this important work. The Supreme Court has failed time and again, serving as a highly partisan and activist backer of the current president, rather than an independent tribunal willing to demonstrate fealty to its constitutional role. But thanks to the complexity of the federal judiciary, the lower courts have stood as a critical roadblock to an individual who would gladly sweep away the constitution if given the chance. While the current president likes to blame “radical leftist judges” for his seemingly daily courtroom failures, the pushback to the administration’s violations has been bipartisan in nature, with judges from across the political spectrum holding true to the ideal of constitutional rule of law.
While many view our nation’s current moment as dire, and rightfully so, it can well be argued, at least to date, that while the founder’s guardrails are strained, they continue to hold. And despite the current administration’s efforts to scuttle the upcoming mid-term elections, they will occur as scheduled, overseen by the states, and will provide “we the people” with the opportunity to check executive branch overreach.
As such, while the current administration has been able to enact policies that are causing, and will cause, great harm, the foundation of our constitutional democracy remains largely intact. That means we have the opportunity to repair much of the damage.
The U.S. Constitution does many things, but it doesn’t protect against bad governance. It doesn’t guarantee a specific policy outcome, or even a society that strives for justice. Elections, after all, do have consequences and the voters don’t always make the wisest calls. Yet the founders built a system designed to survive demagogues and other bad faith actors, giving the public time to recognize their errors and take corrective action at the next election. That is the situation we find ourselves in today, on our 250th birthday. That we have come this far, with our system still largely intact, is certainly cause for celebration.
So, enjoy the parades, barbecues, and beer this Fourth of July. Then, let’s all get back to the hard but meaningful work of being Americans forever striving toward our more perfect union.