America just turned 250 years old, and somehow it felt like more people spent the birthday party bashing Trump than praising the country.
But maybe that is America.
I was listening to Walter Isaacson (after reading his most recent short book) talk about America , innovation, democracy, and the founders, and one idea stuck with me: the Constitution does one thing great: balancing individual liberty with the wellbeing of the community.
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 may be one of the greatest sentences ever written, claims Isaacson.
Individual freedom versus the common good. The right to be left alone versus the responsibility to live together. The person versus the system. Liberty versus order.
This is what America is all about (I think)
For a while, I (and a bunch of others) think the country veered too far away from the individual. Too much control. Too much institutional arrogance. Too much “we know better than you.” Too many experts, agencies, and political insiders acting like ordinary people were a problem to be managed instead of citizens to be heard.
Then the pendulum swung back. Real hard!
Trump did not sneak into power. He won because millions of Americans decided they wanted the individual to matter again and have the system challenged. A reminder to institutions that the people still get a vote.
His victory does not mean everyone has to like him —even his voters.
People talk about Trump like he is a break from democracy, but in many ways Trump is democracy. Messy, loud, uncomfortable, emotional, imperfect democracy.
He is the Constitution in action. He is the pendulum aggressively swinging back the other way.
He is not the system failing. He is the system moving.
Americans have always had a funny way of showing love for the country. We complain. We bitch. We accuse the president of ruining everything. Then we do it again with the next one.
Maybe half of America has always hated every other president. Maybe it just feels louder now because everyone has a microphone in their pocket, their own blog (ryanrichmond.com)and a dopamine addiction at the end to their thumb.
Individual liberty versus community wellbeing. Order versus freedom. Progress versus tradition. Trust the government versus fear the government.
The president is not a king, a priest, or a Dr. Phil. He is a temporary occupant of an office built inside a system designed for conflict.
The founders expected disagreement. They designed for it. They built a machine that could survive ambition, ego, factions, anger, reality tv, criticism, CNN, and competing visions of what freedom should mean.
The pendulum swings. We thhe people decide. The critics criticize. The supporters cheer. My Uncle loses his shitt. My other Uncle believes we are now on the right road. The Constitution holds the whole fu&@ing thing together.
Ain’t that America?
Walter Isaacson discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H40o7LjOEs4