Working my way back through time, I looked at the first time speeches given by Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy, Roosevelt (Franklin, not Teddy), Lincoln, Monroe, Adams, Jefferson and, of course, Washington and surprisingly found relatively little lengthy discussion about how the then newly-elected standard bearer viewed his duty to his constituents. Lincoln, for example, was understandably consumed with the then-imminent destruction of the Union (first term) and the need for healing (second term). Jefferson spoke at some length about the relatively new Constitution in terms of the freedoms it conveyed, most notably (are you listening George?), religious freedom and the imperative that church and state be kept separate. Washington, humbled by his selection as the nation’s first leader, sounded tired and overwhelmed by the task that lay before him. While nearly all, of course, described an agenda for the succeeding four years, none spoke at length about the Presidency in terms the President’s responsibility to unify the citizenry behind the common goal of establishing and perpetuating America’s responsibility to lead at home and abroad with honesty, integrity and civility …until I came across these words:
Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.
I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image.
And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.
America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.
Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.
America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness…..
We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment…..
The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom. We will defend our allies and our interests. We will show purpose without arrogance. We will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength. And to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.
That the speaker of these grandiose ideals was none other than George W. in his first inaugural address makes what has transpired over the past four plus years all the more difficult to accept.
Putting aside the real possibility that these ideals were uttered by Mr. Bush with tongue firmly planted in cheek and accepting, for the moment, that there was actually an element of belief in what he said on the steps of the Capitol nearly five years ago, it is indeed astonishing that his deeds not only failed to live up to those ideals, but have made a mockery of the very principles that he espoused that day.
“And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity….America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness…”? While the nation has most assuredly been fractured and divided during its life, those divisions have invariably been driven by events and not by or at the urging of its President. Yet, if there is anything that defines Mr. Bush and all that he is about, it was his pandering to the fundamentalist religious right in the wake of the Miers’ nomination. His is not a world defined by unity or good will or respect or fair dealing unless each of those virtues is proffered for the purpose of furthering his own fundamentalist view of the world. There is, in fact, no room for civility or forgiveness or any these values (undoubtedly learned through his “Twelve Step” program and new found belief that Jesus Christ is his savior and the answer to all questions) unless you are “one of us” for indeed if you are not one of George’s “us”, you are, by definition, one of “them”. Us versus them? Red state versus blue state? Republican versus Democrat? Liberal versus….well liberal is too dirty a word to even provide a counterpoint to anything in W’s world. This divisiveness has not evolved independently of the man sitting in the Oval Office, but, again, borne of a world view that defines itself by the divisiveness it creates. Whether it is in his dealings with many of our former (and hopefully future) allies abroad or with vast segments of the population which never accepted George Bush into their lives, if you are not with George, you are against him.
It remains to be seen how widespread and long-lasting the damage is. Certainly for the families of the dead and wounded, the damage will never see an end. It is also likely that the damage to the world community will not see an end for many years to come. Hopefully, as the standard bearer for Jesus’ newly gathering army on these shores, Mr. Bush does not see himself as a modern day Richard the Lionhearted launching a new Crusade to take on the Muslim infidel, Saladin north of Jerusalem yet one does get the distinct impression that indeed that is precisely how Mr. Bush envisions his legacy unfolding. At home, the vision has taken many forms: voucher programs built into the “No Child Left Behind” legislation; the expressed support for “intelligent creation” which has already led the Kansas school board to again change its curriculum to emphasize religious over scientific explanation and, of course, the religious litmus test for the selection of judges to all levels of the Federal judiciary to name but a few examples.
Where does it leave the rest of us (who, by the way, I suspect are actually the majority of populace) who actually believe in the efficacy and guiding principles of the Constitution and continue to resist the demagoguery of this evangelical President? Take solace and know that you have the full faith and support of our founding fathers who, having only then recently been denied fundamental freedoms by the Crown, spent considerable time and energy drafting the rules of governance and required that the nation’s leadership not only espouse religious and political freedom, but guard it above all. As Jefferson put it in his first inaugural address:
“[L]et us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions”.
Are you listening, George?
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