HUMAN ASPIRATION

The creation of the United States of America was one of the most extraordinary pivots in human history because it sought to extricate humanity from the shackles of perpetual subjugation. America meant no feudalism, no religious wars, no state-centered society. The creation of the United States was a philosophical revolution made political reality on a continental scale. American optimism is intertwined with the notion that we, the people, are created equal, with a God-given right to liberty. Equality is our shared origin, but it is not our destination, because we are free to pursue happiness as we see fit. The American dream allows us to act according to our consciences and convictions, our hopes and desires, our ambitions and our efforts. 

The American dream is unique for everyone—and in America we can pursue happiness in different ways. Indeed, our free-market economy, our respect for the individual, and our federal system of government rest on our guarantee of social and political pluralism. As Americans, we are free to live where and how we want, to believe what we will, to associate with communities and groups of our own choosing, and to spend our time as we wish—and where these freedoms have been violated, it has been a violation of the American promise that can always be redeemed, because it is written into our political DNA through the Declaration of Independence and into our laws through the Constitution. America’s success has been a success of freedom, mass prosperity, science, and innovation. Most of all, America’s success marks the success of human aspiration.

The ultimate irony is that the young people who condemn America for its flaws do not recognize that their standards of justice, equality, freedom, opportunity, and prosperity are entirely the product of our history. They carp at the extraordinary achievements of the American past—and do not recognize how that makes them less capable of building an even more extraordinary future. Their cheap cynicism leads them to believe that all this talk of freedom, individual agency, and opportunity is a lie, a fraud, a malevolent myth—which is a perfect excuse to do nothing, to drop out, to accept no responsibility for one’s life. I never hear young people professing love for their country. I used to. But not lately.

This is when I really think teachers have a front row seat for America’s decline. G. K. Chesterton observed, “Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.” Our young people must be reminded of the “obvious things” about our country’s history, its extraordinary achievements, its still bountiful promise and potential. More than that, they must come to know the boundless possibilities of a good life, a full life, a life of service to our country, our families, and our highest ideals.

Jeremy Adams, Hollowed Out: A Warning about America's Next Generation (134-135). Regnery Publishing. Kindle Edition.