The small but interesting handful of you who read this blog may have noticed that I describe myself as a proud, fighting Democrat. I wasn't always one; I spent time wandering in the conservative world, and I think I have a pretty good grasp of different political perspectives. I don't know if you're interested, but I think you're entitled to know where I stand and why I consider myself a Democrat. So here goes.
The founding of the colonies that later comprised the United States took place for a variety of reasons, ranging from religious separatism to the hope of economic gain. Very early in our history there were some settlers who saw in the American colonies a "shining city on a hill" as John Winthrop characterized it. This is, I believe, the source of American exceptionalism, the widespread belief that America stands out from other societies and has a special mission to accomplish in the world. America's "moat", the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, contributed to this sense as well.
There were a great many Americans who had (and have) great qualities as people: a powerful work ethic; a disdain for social class distinctions (as de Tocqueville pointed out); a natural optimism; religious faith that sustained them through never-ending tough times; fierce loyalty and devotion to family; a deep personal honesty and integrity; self-discipline; and the conviction that America could represent a new ideal of opportunity and justice. Not everyone held all these views in the same measure or breadth, but they were widespread enough to propel this society forward in a tremendously dynamic way.
Much of this country was settled and built by people who had to fight for everything in their lives every day. The hardscrabble existence these people lived introduced into American culture a certain toughness and aggressiveness, a willingness to fight over any issue, and a generally low opinion of the intentions of others. This tendency has existed to this very day.
The great national sin of slavery stained the colonies and later the new country. The failure to abolish slavery in the Revolutionary Era was the foremost disaster of America's moral and legal history, a disaster the consequences of which are still being felt.
The United States is ideologically the product of the Scottish, English, and French Enlightenments. Many of its founders were deeply religious people, but they took care to insure that America's legal foundation was, in regard to religion, both tolerant and neutral. They may have thought of America as a Christian nation personally, but publicly they made possible the concept of separation of church and state. (The opponents of this separation say that no such phrase exists in the Constitution. I would point out that the words God and Bible don't appear in that document either.)
The conquest of North America involved many injustices against the native population. The Native Americans should not be idealized in a Rousseauian way as "Noble Savages". They were culturally quite diverse and capable of terrible inter-tribal violence. White Americans, on the whole, treated them badly, dehumanized them, and either rejoiced in or ignored the destruction of their cultures.
The settlement of North America was carried out by guns, canals, railroads, McCormick reapers, and a mixture of heavy free and slave labor. The country attracted immigrants because it really was possible to build a new life here. The North's economic development was more rational than the South's.
The Mexican War may have been unjust, but the Mexican government from which the land we won was taken had itself stolen it, so I have a hard time feeling that bad about it.
The Civil War's chief cause was slavery, despite the nonsense you hear from some people. The right side won the war. The Confederacy's defeat was one of the best things in American history. Southern racists collaborated with Northern racists after the end of Reconstruction in 1877 to virtually re-enslave the South's black population.
Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Benjamin Franklin are, in that order, the greatest Americans. Thomas Jefferson doesn't make the top 5 because he couldn't bring himself to favor the abolition of slavery, an institution he knew to be wrong.
John Calhoun and Jefferson Davis were utterly loathesome.
The industrialization of the United States was a necessary thing, but it was carried out too often with unnecessary harshness.
The rise of labor unions in the United States was a very good thing.
The creation of the public school system contributed enormously to America's growth and well-being.
The United States created a vibrant and original literature, new forms of music, and perhaps less vibrant new forms of visual art.
The Populist and Progressive movements showed America's capacity for resistance to entrenched economic interests. They also showed, on occasion, America's narrow racism, class envy, and moralistic tendencies.
The United States has done a better job of assimilating a great range of humans than any other society in history, and we should be proud of this.
The U.S. helped to decisively tip the balance in World War I and was a key to the Allied victory in World War II.
The U.S. was on the right side in the Cold War, as the restriction and then destruction of Soviet communism was absolutely necessary.
The Korean War was necessary. The Vietnam War was not. The Gulf War was necessary. The current Iraq war is not.
America, despite its faults, has provided an enormous number of people with a huge amount of freedom and opportunity. It also created an enormous Middle Class. America's economic system is the most productive in history. FDR's regulated capitalism has been the basis of America's economic prosperity.
The U.S. has sinned on occasion, such as in Central America. Its business interests have not always treated local people justly. America has too often interfered in the affairs of other countries, often out of a misguided conception of its national security.
America is worth fighting for. It is worth saving from the depredations of the organized crime group that now controls it. It is worth dying for.
Some day, I believe that it will live up fully to the Preamble to the Constitition.
More later.
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