Are we too afraid to peel back the skin, to see what lies beneath? Are we worried we might find something that gives us PAUSE… causing us to question the entire experiment? Who among us has any doubt in the Infinite Potential of the American Experiment?

Let them SPEAK NOW… let there be NO DOUBT! In an open and honest debate, the best ideas always rise to the TOP. We must always strive to be better, to learn from our mistakes.

Our story is born of REBELLION. Against oppression. Against monarchical tendencies. Born of a desire to be FREE, believing we are ALL created equal… is that still what we believe? Yes, the question of who that statement includes has changed throughout the years, but it has always been at the direction of The People, and it has always bent toward INCLUSION. Simple precedent shows us where we should be heading…

More participation equals Better Governance. 

 

It’s the very reason we are here today! No taxation without representation. Liberty over tyranny. Bow before a KING and be subject to His indiscretions. 

We teach these lessons to our children with the hope that they will prevent them from happening again in the FUTURE. The events that led us to Revolution, the acts of a Tyrant King… and the INACTION of our Congress, that changed the course of our history. 

 

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With context, we gain insight. With knowledge, we see where we went wrong. With humility we can UNDERSTAND, we can see through our own eyes, the experiences of another… if we choose to. If we are strong enough, to embrace the TRUTH carried by another human being and challenge our assumptions… to know if it could happen to ONE of us, then it could happen to us ALL. 

 

No cruel and unusual punishment… yet we imprison detainees indefinitely in a foreign land. All men are created equal… disregarding the rights of HALF of the citizens of this Nation. With Liberty and Justice for ALL… except those we’ve deemed to be only worthy of THREE-FIFTHS. 

This Nation was founded as an Imperfect Union by imperfect men, bearing the scars of oppression and inhumanity carried out upon them. But there’s was just another step in a natural progression inspired centuries before them. An Age of Enlightenment and Renaissance brought KNOWLEDGE to the masses, opening minds and challenging established dogmas. 

Three centuries of accumulated knowledge led humanity to a point where we could truly question what it means to be FREE. A vision of PERFECTION is what they created… subject to the interpretation of imperfect beings. 

 

Our past may define us, but it should never condemn us to who it is we will BE. 

 

-JC