Four Questions Answered

Dear Founding Fathers,

Please accept my following report with the humility that it is intended. Not being a member of the press or federal government, not subject to unique privilege nor wanting any of that, I remain a free man who truly enjoys the sweet fruit of your labor.

I will do my best to faithfully answer all your questions.

Obviously, the reply to your first inquiry is in the affirmative. I am free. Free to speak my mind, free to practice my beliefs and free to travel anywhere within our borders. And, yes, by all accounts, my freedom was bestowed upon my birth as was my citizenship in this great nation. Please rest easy in that regard.

I am also free to make my passage through this life as I see fit. For that, I have only you to thank. To the liberties and inalienable rights which you remarked, although occasionally twisted and employed by those with self-serving purpose, just as you often predicted, they are still as constant as you originally defined them.

I sense some lingering disagreement in your second question, but under the remarkable system which you established, a system which inherently prolonged certain social inequities, the slaves were emancipated nonetheless. Still I must report that although that unjust fire was sparked long ago, drenched with the blood of many of your descendents, its smoldering embers refuse to completely grow cold even today.

In truth, as to your second, there remains significant inequality among your children. Perhaps this result was not contained in your hopes nor in the manner which you predicted. But do not distress over this, you were men who gave birth to men who never, throughout the course of our history, have not had a proportion of their human souls corrupted by vanity and good fortune.

You see, it is the very freedom you demanded which often supports a stubborn sense of inequality. Ironically, it is the good fortune you bestowed upon us which allows us to flaunt our pride in that and take advantage of unforeseen and perhaps unjust opportunities as they make themselves available to us. Any negative result is not your fault but often a result of our own free choice, the choice that you made possible for us.

No, as to your third, I’m afraid not. Unlike Cincinattus, our politicians do not return to the plow with any haste. Many have long careers in government, leaving enduring legacies of convenient influence, aged symbols of an aristocracy out of touch with its own humble ranks.

There are now, just as the Greeks knew, those few citizens who unfurl their flags of privilege in the shifting sands of wealth and property, some immediately upon birth, giving man-made authority to their right to govern by virtue of their riches and education. If not naturally assured of a position among the elite, then our magistrates and even members of our free press are often chosen as merely servants of the same.

In fact, the vast majority, those with whom you placed so much enduring trust and inspiration, remain the only true servants of the Republic. You were right on that point. They alone, it seems, are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to assure the seed matures. Most work, sometimes for honest work’s sake, to fund the interest of the nation and to underwrite your guarantees. Even if occasionally maligned by apathy or a sense of futility, the majority still rules. One can only hope an everlasting hope that stays true.

And to your fourth question, yes, as I’ve described, we remain students of your Democracy. Liberty and the freedom of individual pursuit still prevail. The lessons are difficult yet with each passing year the immunities you gave us earn more respect and we learn more about the inherent limitations you placed within these gifts. But my report would be incomplete if left at that lone point of summary.

Almost as soon as you put your pen and ink to paper, the description of equality which you wrestled from your own unkind environment began a gradual descent under the mixed Oligarchy that appears to remain strong today. If that was your intent and not just a natural result of man’s governance, then as to the fourth, your success has been secured.

I hope that answers your questions and makes your holiday a joyous one.

Cheers,
Mb