When in the course of human events.. So begins the greatest document ever devised by man; a declaration that would launch a nation and reorder the future history of the world. Yet as I type that famous phrase above, I notice something that Jefferson surely didn’t when he wrote it nearly two hundred and fifty years ago: A single, red squiggly line underneath ‘in the course of’. It appears Microsoft would like to suggest a different choice of words for the opening statement of our founding, recommending they be replaced with ‘during’ as the concise language more appropriate to a 21st century audience. We esteem the words placed in the Declaration of Independence, in part, because they are in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, were we to write such a treatise today, it would certainly contain far different, far more modern turn-of-phrase in order to speak to a far different audience.
And so it would seem wise for the government that the Declaration declared and the ensuing Constitution established, to so adapt as well. Words are the basis of speech just as laws are the basis of government, and both must be flexible enough to accommodate the subject of their purpose: People. Thankfully, we people are not a static bunch. Because times change, conditions shift, knowledge evolves and cultures adjust. In our lives and in our politics, we develop new norms based on what we believe to be true. That is why it is so imperative to be honest with each other and honest with ourselves in order to arrive at what is fact and what is fiction in a world that so shamelessly blurs them.
Establishing Justice. The Common Defense. Domestic Tranquility. The General Welfare. These four pillars of our republic are crying out, like a creaking old house on a new city block, for a thorough refurbishment. Every two years we install a new government charged with rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, when what we need to do is fix the ship! Because while we’re all still in the biggest, most expensive boat the world has ever seen, it’s got structural problems that will lead to its demise if not properly helmed. And if we thought we weren’t being properly steered before, we’ve shown we’re not above handing over the tiller to Captain Kangaroo.
We the people have the power to amend our government. And while we may not all agree on the how, we can likely all agree on the why: Because it, by all objective measures, including abysmal public opinion, it is not working as it should. Therefore we must understand that it is our right and accept that it is our duty to reawaken the valor passed down through our radical lineage in order to revive the republic our forefathers so nobly gave us. They had the audacity to invent a nation. We must simply have the tenacity to repair it.
We owe no allegiance to fear. We bear no obligation to subdue extraordinary ideas, no commitment to evade transformative change, and certainly no calling to resist advancing legislation for this nation that would make it more democratic, more just, and more free. In fact, it is our right, it is our duty to make it so.
But the great irony of the American electorate is that nothing so inspires us to vote than the ambiguity of change, and so stirs us to scowl than at the details of it. For this we must remember to be not cynical skeptics, but realistic optimists. Because as you will see, the propositions put forth are indeed bold, and must therefore be accompanied by this faithful reminder; that to run farthest we must wear shoes that fit. And while the sneakers of our youth may have once been the envy of our peers, refusing to give up an undersized pair of shoes in exchange for new ones of the proper fitting, simply for the sake of obdurate tradition, will hamper our ability to walk, let alone run, as we watch our friends and competitors alike race past us, laughing as we cling to a former glory, knowing that future ones, are theirs.
So awaken America. The future waits for no one.
I’ll tell you what its going to take. Radicals. A bunch of them, working together. Working together with non-radicals on both the left and right. And what exactly might we call these radicals that intend to pull the country back together and bind its wounds, stitch by painful stitch until it is whole again? Perhaps we shall call them, the Radical Center. We already have radicals on each side, what we need is the bridge between the two. We have two ears, what we need is a head. We have two arms what we need is a heart. We have two legs, what we need is.. I’ll let that one be left for interpretation.
The points is, the Radical center will be both the stimulant and the depressant that any political psychiatrist worth their salt would prescribe for our current affliction. Depressants, to tone down the vitriol of the national discourse and a stimulant, to awaken the spirit of revolution buried deep within our American souls.
But that is not guaranteed. No, the enzyme that this new radical center must become is not its default nature. The membership of this new class of thought must foster its catalyst-like properties in order for it to actually do any good. For we must both be a driver of change, and the glue that keeps the country from falling apart. Like a nail to wood, we derive our power to bind together through the burst of energy required to drive us forward. For a nail tapped lightly into place neither finds its target, nor its purpose. We must be driven! If we want to hold this nation together.
I imagine the task in front of us not unlike the task that faced our nations foremost explorers. Lewis wants to go left, Clark wants to go right. Each have their benefits and perils, but there is one path right in front of them advocated by a third party. Sacagawea