A Love Letter To America

A Love Letter To America

                                                                                                November 1^st, 2020

Dear America,

            I love you with all of my heart, but you haven’t been making it easy.

            My fellow Americans, here we are on the very eve of the 2020 election, a stressed-out, pandemic-ridden, and divided people. And even though I’m writing this before the election, it’s not a bold prediction to suggest that we’re likely to remain stressed, sick, and divided for some time to come.

            We do not have to accept this as our reality, and we should not. We have the power to make a very different choice. We – citizens, residents, and admirers of the United States of America – should remind ourselves what it means to be “United”. If we commit ourselves to the challenging but extremely worthy cause of moving forward together, as one country, I have no doubt that we can reclaim an important and positive part of the spirit that inspired and created these United States of America.

            Obviously, there are many and complicated factors contributing to the intense division between a couple of prominent “factions” of Americans. No matter what media we’re consuming individually (and most of us consume a lot!), we all recognize that we mostly pay attention to the articles, YouTube videos, memes, and other messages that validate and support what we already think and believe. Instead of challenging ourselves to look at things from a few different angles, or consulting sources from a variety of perspectives, many of us have mostly eddied out into our comfortable little bubbles. Very few people are willing to push themselves out of their comfort zones in order to try to understand other perspectives that we find to be confusing or with which we seem to disagree. And the fact that most Americans are trying to lie low and ride out this global pandemic has also contributed to our feelings of stress and isolation.

            Mostly, for those of us who pay attention to such things, Americans are deeply and passionately divided, right now, about politics. We are deeply conflicted about so much: the election, Covid-19 and our response to it, our views on police brutality, climate change, immigration, and education – and so much more. Whether you’re a Trump supporter, a proponent of recognizing that Black lives do matter, a conservative, a liberal, or none of the above, this letter is for you. It’s for all of us.

           In the 15+ years that I’ve had the opportunity to teach history and government at the high school level, I’ve grown to admire many beautiful and timely expressions of our unity as a people, as one nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. Sure, there always are going to be things Americans disagree about – as we should! My point here is the same as Abraham Lincoln’s in his first inaugural address, with the nation on the brink of Civil War. They are well-worn lines at this point, but that doesn’t diminish the beauty and the power of the closing segment of Lincoln’s speech:

“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

           If we step back from our current moment, we can see that the country was in a significantly more stressful place when Lincoln uttered these words than we are now. Seven states had seceded, and all but the most optimistic could see that the country was on the verge of a true Civil War that ended up lasting four long years and killing over 600,000 Americans.

           Yet, on the verge of this national catastrophe, we have Lincoln calling upon “the better angels of our nature” to remind ourselves of our shared history, and to encourage us to focus on unity. And similar messages have permeated our history, from George Washington warning us in his Farewell Address of the danger of allowing ourselves to be divided into factions; to the “Era of Good Feelings” when most of the country was united under the banner of the “Democratic-Republican Party”; to John F. Kennedy encouraging us to “let us not seek the Republican answer – let us not seek the Democratic answer – but the right answer.”

            Of course, the origins of these United States of America have been tumultuous, and, at times, quite brutal, and there are plenty of times in our country’s history in which we seem to have chosen the wrong answer. In a genuine, deep, honest conversation about where this country has been and where it might be going, one is not going to get very far with messages of unity without accounting for our parallel history of injustice and brutality. Like I said, this letter is for every American, and that includes many sub-groups of the American family who have faced more than their fair share of scorn and mistreatment from other Americans.

           The list of such groups necessarily starts with the First Americans, natives who were here before we of European descent rode Columbus’ coattails to the New World. And I believe the vast majority of us recognize that most African Americans are descendents of people who did not ask to be dragged over here from their ancestral homelands and enslaved to work in American agricultural fields and households. Of course, let’s not forget our mothers, and sisters, and the other women in our lives and with whom we share a country, who gained the right to vote only 100 years ago – 131 years after white, male landowners started casting ballots under the guidelines of the Constitution.

           Although the list of aggrieved Americans could go on for a while, I’m going to stop after mentioning one other group of Americans who haven’t always been treated as well as we would hope to be treated: veterans. This might be a controversial point, but our country’s history is thick with stories of veterans returning from service, thinking they might have a chance to relax, heal, and decompress – and instead having to fight to receive proper care for their physical and mental health, and for their military experiences to be truly recognized.

            While the history of mistreatment of many of our countrymen and women should not be overlooked, neither should the history of Americans fighting to right injustice and to attain our founding ideal that all men – and women – are created equal, and deserve equal treatment and equal opportunity. From the aforementioned Civil War and the struggle to protect the rights of African-Americans, through the Women’s Suffrage Movement, to more modern struggles to protect the rights of every American, a large part of the history of this great country is the struggle for equal rights and justice for all Americans.

           Through all of the intensity of our current time, with Coronavirus, mass protests over the issue of police brutality, and this year’s electoral referendum on Trump and Trumpism, and even talk of the possibility of another Civil War, it’s important to recognize that, for the most part, we Americans have remained remarkably civil. I would never want to minimize the agony and injustice of the deaths of people like George Floyd – or those whose lives have been irreparably diminished or ended in the chaotic aftermath. Yes, there has been violence, and significant property damage done. Personally, I wish that wasn’t necessary. But our history tells us that certain unpleasant actions are unfortunately effective: negative political campaigns, and well-attended protests that are at least slightly unruly. Without serious provocation, change is unlikely and slow.

           America, my dear country, I hope you have come to realize that the change that I am hoping to help provoke with this letter is for us to recognize that now is the time for us to truly learn how to live together. It’s past time for us to heed the wise thoughts and words of George Washington, when he cautioned the perils of being seduced by a two party system that made us forget that we are one people with a diverse and rich history in these beloved United States of America. Although we don’t always understand each other, it’s important to recognize that we have always been here together: racists and a beautiful array of races; greedy bastards and selfless public servants; city folk and rural residents, etc. America has always been a country of deep contradictions, and it probably always will be.

            It’s understandable that this tense time in our country’s history has, once again, led to our bonds of affection being severely strained. It is up to us to find a way to heal this strain, and, instead of breaking apart, to come back together as one in these glorious and messy United States of America. I hope that you will agree that the alternative of remaining divided is unnecessary, and the idea of another Civil War is not only unthinkable, but also well beneath “The Better Angels of our Nature” as citizens of these magnificent United States of America.

                                  With respect, admiration, and a deep and abiding love for our country,

                                   Rick Stern

                                   Teacher, father, husband, community member

                                   Lost Prairie, Montana