What America Means to Me

America means the common person has freedom and rights, simply because he or she is American. America means democracy -- that our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. America is a grand experiment in democracy, the first national democracy since ancient times. People said it couldn't be done, that the common man is not worthy of such inalienable rights, such power to self-govern. Yet our “experiment” has prevailed for over 200 years.

America means that where you came from and what status your ancestors attained in no way dictates what you can accomplish. America means you are free to criticize your government and that the best press is the free and competitive press. America assumes the population is well-informed, educated, and motivated – that the more vigorous the peoples’ voice, the more robust the democracy. America means debate is healthy.

America means you have the right to struggle with religion, to practice your faith, or to deny religion. America means our government and science is not influenced by religion. This plurality of viewpoints and religions means America is not only tolerant of diversity, but indeed thrives on it. America, therefore, has a broader inkling of the commonality of all cultures and their expressions of God.

America means justice: If government does not represent the will of the people or if corruption is present, a counter balance of justice is built into our system. America is a living expression of our founding fathers' enlightenment ideals and a new understanding that power corrupts absolutely. Checks and balances to every power structure were intentionally built in to our government as the only way to oust corruption.

Our first government actually failed due to the government being too decentralized. This failure perfectly represents the extent to which our founding fathers believed in distributing power out to all the common people. George Washington talked about throwing off the chains of tradition, centralized power, and endless tribal-type warfare between nations declaring that they as God’s chosen people had the only sovereign rights to this or that parcel of land. The founding fathers instead gave power to the individual – rights to defend oneself, of free speech, privacy, enterprise, voting, and petitioning the government.

Above all, being American means the right and ability to freely live and effect change in our own lives; to pursue our productive happiness, wherever that leads us. The question today is, “Where is this America?” To what extent do we recognize this America today? To what extent does America exist?

Today, lobbyists from multi-billion dollar conglomerates have the ear of congress, where riders on bills funnel our tax-payer dollars to indirectly fund excessive CEO compensation. America is the place where no-bid government contracts are awarded to friends of the same political officials responsible for cranking the war machine.

America is where CEO’s work for one year and retire with a $20 million bonus, while their workers’ families struggle by on minimum wage with no health insurance. America is where middle-class families are squeezed to the breaking point, while hedge fund managers and sub-prime lenders get government tax breaks and incentives. America is where poor children are recruited into the army to die in a middle-eastern civil war, yet opportunists can make six-figures as unregulated mercenaries for Blackwater to comprise the unspoken other half of government involvement, all on the tax-payer’s dole.

America is where, in the last century, great science, math, innovation, entrepreneurship, and critical thinking drove our economic engine and propelled us to world leadership. Today, we are more beholden to corporations that claim they cannot adapt – car companies, oil companies, financial corporations, media conglomerates – than we are to the individual’s American dream.

Today, we have given up many of our rights to free expression, privacy, and ability to self-govern. We have allowed the executive branch to usurp power away from the people. We have given up on the right of only our Congress to declare war. We have rolled back habeas corpus, the right to a fair trial and due process. We have dampened the free press by allowing oligopolies, laid down to surveillance of the citizenry, and allowed the justice department to hand over our constitutional rights to the executive branch.

In America, where the long process of democracy can be frustrating, politicians in power may be tempted to subvert the process in exchange for an end product, as a trade for getting things done. However, democracy means the process is the product, the journey is more important than the destination and, in a way, the journey is our destination. Our democratic process is who we are.

Where is America? If I learned what America is in public school civics class, why didn’t our leaders learn what American means and what a democracy is? Why does the current administration think they know better than Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams? How did we let America slip away? And how in the world will we ever get it back?