By Edwin Cooney
The next time you hear someone chant "make America great again," insist that that person tell you precisely when it was that America used to be great! Like every country on "God's green earth,” America could improve everything from its cost of living to the application of the golden rule! However, anyone who suggests that at one time we were "more perfect" than we are today is simply whistling Dixie!
As our founding fathers asserted, we established and ordained the Constitution to make a "more perfect" union, but those wig-headed sages never suggested that one day we'd be perfect enough to avoid significant changes in values by the next generation of Americans. The next question you might ask would be this: where else in the world could you live that might better meet your personal needs? Should they persist on insisting that they would rather live somewhere else, ask them what their level of respect is for the immigrants who are trying to escape destruction or death in their homes south of the border. Most people tend to stay put rather than move unless their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor are threatened by their circumstances.
It is tempting to list here imperfections from the slavery of Blacks to the genocide of Native Americans that mar great chunks of our history, but there are a few things we, the American people, don't quite grasp and we might be better off if we did.
First: we are far from being the only people on earth to be proud of our homeland. God didn't grant us this land as a reward for our faith! As I see it, God granted us the capacity to design a great nation. Others also possess the same capacity even if they don't use it to the maximum degree.
Living conditions invariably change thus creating challenges for every generation.
As for those who would make it illegal for teachers to educate their students about our past errors of judgment and treatment of minorities, lack of information regarding our social, political and legal errors will not prevent those errors from being made in the future!
Finally, America is a little like every one of its citizens. We are all a combination of vices and virtues. However, we are all vulnerable to bad assumptions and even presumptions.
History is the record of all we've ever assumed, presumed, considered, done, and failed to do.
History is our emotional and intellectual map to the best possibilities for tomorrow!
Go ahead and read history. Indulge in it. History contains the most fascinating examples and stories.
You might even come to love history just as I do!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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