HEY, SELF, WHEN IS A NATION REALLY AND TRULY GREAT?

By Edwin Cooney

Okay, I admit it. I am like little Jack Horner who sat in the corner pulling plumbs out of cherry pies! Just for this week, I'll take a break from plumb-pulling and pull greatness out of America and, believe it or not, out of other nations as well. Here I go:

Question 1: What makes a nation truly great?

Answer: Nations are often great long after their dominance has passed. Greece and Rome in their times established political, social, legal and religious institutions that future nations were anxious to adopt for their own benefit. These include languages, prose and poetry, educational institutions, philosophical concepts of learning, and government. (My favorite Greek philosopher was Plato who defined “justice” as rewarding someone for their accomplishments. He defined “injustice” as setting up someone for failure and punishing them for failure.) Britain's greatest accomplishment was the concept of legal and social fairness and, as imperfect as it was, it established a system of jurisprudence that remains a part of all just governments today. As for the British Empire, it spread its greatest institutions to its colonies widely throughout the world from the Americas to the Asian subcontinent and on to Africa and Australia. Great Britain spread the expectation that good government serves rather than rules the people.

Question 2: Which is higher, society or government?

Answer: Society constitutes the collective mores of its citizens. Medieval, monarchical, federalist, free market, socialistic, or oligarchical forms of government are established by societal hopes and expectations.

Question 3: What's the most vital element of a great society?

Answer: Social inclusion constitutes the greatest element of a great society.

Question 4: Is a great nation “great” in everything it does?

Answer: Of course not! From 1789 into the 1960’s, even as America became freer and freer for white property and business owners and, ultimately, white women, America enslaved Blacks, legally murdered Mormons in some states, committed genocide to native Americans, and established Jim Crow laws to hold down Blacks even in the face of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and in defiance of the 13th 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

Question 5: Is America great enough as it is?

Answer: Certainly not! There's plenty of room for improvement. If it was up to “me, myself, and I,” I would do away with the electoral college, widen the wall separating church and state, regulate gun manufacturers by making them legally responsible for the damage guns do to people when they are in the hands of individuals who are nonmilitary and those who aren't part of law enforcement. I'd do away with capital punishment which I regard merely as government-sponsored legalized murder. I'd reject efforts by individual states to limit the voting rights of Blacks and other ethnic minorities out of fears that these minorities may become majority voters.

I believe as Abraham Lincoln believed that all of us were and are created equal, not according to our skills, but out of the value of our natural existence!

After talking long and hard to myself about it, I've decided that:

(1.) A great society creates a great government as LBJ tried to tell us in his often bumbling and even self-centered way.

(2.) As former New York State Governor Al Smith often put it: "The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy!"

(3.) Because government is a tool designed to be used by all aspects of society and not merely a political entity, it is empowered to both regulate and deregulate the manner in which people function in its domain.

About the time President Benjamin Harrison turned the government over to Grover Cleveland whom he'd defeated for re-election four years previously, the era of "manifest destiny" was complete and the frontier was considered closed. Since March 4th, 1893, we have experienced the era of political doctrine consisting of progressivism, old guard conservatism, and mid-twentieth century liberalism. Since 1969, modern conservatism has largely ruled.

Today, the states don't appear to be at all united! But as little Jack Horner sits in his corner eating George Washington's cherry pie, he discovers a bit of real greatness on the end of his thumb!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY