A More Perfect Union
Celebrating the birth of The United States as we recognize that a Perfect Union isn't possible
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This is, as I’m sure you know, a holiday week. For some, I suppose, it matters little what the holiday is other than a chance for more time off during the summer - a cookout or fireworks or a visit to some body of water somewhere. But this particular holiday, the Fourth of July, happens, as I’m sure you know, to be the celebration of the birth of our nation and the commemoration of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. That Declaration and the Constitution, formulated a few years later, form what we call the founding documents of The United States of America. So let’s take a minute, just before the holiday, to think about our nation and its citizens.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union …”
The Preamble to the Constitution of The United States of America
This is how the preamble to the Constitution begins. The wording is important - not a perfect union, but a more perfect one - better than before. This is one of the founding assumptions of our nation - more perfect, never fully perfect.
Our political times are characterized by a detached polarity. It is us and them, but the definition of us and them is a bit inconsistent and incoherent. Whatever our side is for, whatever their side is against. Thankfully, the founders of our country were coming from a different understanding of what our country is or should be or can be. And, just as importantly, of who we are. Our founders, in searching for a more perfect union, were seeking a nation where justice is more established than before, where there is more domestic tranquility, where the common defense is more provided for, where the blessings of liberty are more secured for our generation and the generations to come. Justice, tranquility, security, liberty - as far as it can be provided - more perfect, but never fully perfect.
The fourth of July is sometimes, erroneously I think, thought of as a “conservative” holiday. Liberals, of course, celebrate the Fourth - but those on the left of the political spectrum are often accused (sometimes accurately) of dwelling only on the flaws of America - the injustices, the abuses. Those on the right of the political spectrum are often accused (sometimes accurately) of believing that America has no flaws - no injustices, no abuses. And on the Fourth, we celebrate the nation - not by listing the failings, but by trumpeting the successes. But if we remember the founding assumptions of our nation, we can steer through this false choice and find a nation that we can celebrate - realistically, warts and all. Because it isn’t perfect, but it could be a lot worse - it is more perfect than most of the alternatives.
One of the philosophical ancestors of the political left is Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He posited that men and women are inherently good - and were good in the pre-civilizational wild - the “noble savage” in his formulation, untainted by civilization. For Rousseau, it is only and always the institutions of society and the trappings of civilization that are evil. And so, we must do battle against the institutions we have - they are the source of evil. Evil is only systemic and never personal - so when we see evil, we can only see the evil of the institution, the evil of the system - because if left to our pure selves, we would be good and do good. A utopia is possible here on earth, we just need to root the evil out of the institutions. The perfect union, in other words, is more than possible - it is there if only we can get rid of the institutions and systems that spoil it - capitalism being the most named culprit, but religion fits in that mix as well.
On the nationalist right - the nation is our identity and the acceptable culture is one that loves the nation unconditionally and unapologetically. The beacon of freedom for the nations - the promised land, in some formulations. The American institutions and traditions and people of America, those who love America - are what make America great - if only they can be returned to their original, pure formulation (not accidentally, the formulation of the nationalists and with the nationalists in control of these institutions). In both cases, control of the right kind of institutions and government by the right kind of people fixes everything (and only this fixes everything). This is the path to a perfect union.
I don’t think either of these fit the picture of reality the founders had or the assumptions behind our founding documents. People are broken and human nature doesn’t change a bunch. We are driven to advance the well being of ourselves and our loved ones. We want justice and tranquility and security as part of our liberty because we know that without liberty we don’t have those things and with unrestrained liberty only the rulers or the rich or the strong or politically well-connected have them. So the founders created a system of government to fit those assumptions. The power of the government is limited, because it cannot be trusted and the power of the majority is limited, because it cannot be trusted.
They designed a government where the power is separated - three branches of government, each keeping the others in check. They created a legal framework where, unless the law specifically gives the government power, it cannot act and unless the law specifically constrains the citizen, they are free to act. The people have liberty under the law and the government can only exercise power within the law. The founders knew that governments - all governments in all places over all of history - tend to extend and even abuse their power. They also knew that the majority can turn into a mob which tends to extend and even abuse their power. Because that is where human nature, fallen human nature, leads us. They gave the states power that intentionally cannot be easily overridden by the national government, because they know that overriding is what national governments always have tended to do - human nature being what it is. And they provided a mechanism where, if citizens did their job well enough, those elected to have this power would be accountable to the people electing them.
At the same time, we have a specific list of undemocratic limits on what laws can be enacted, even with the majority of citizens in favor of such laws. They did this because they suspected that some city or state might be in favor of restricting freedom of speech or of religion or of the press - because human nature is what it is. They believed that some other city or state might be in favor of giving the police the right to kick people’s doors down and search in order to provide more security - and they knew we should not give the government this power - because the government, human nature being what it is, in certain times or places - would abuse that power.
They also set up the operation of government to productively manage conflict, disunity, and disagreement. We have a House and a Senate that represent the people in different proportions and are elected for different terms and that must work together to pass a law. In fact, in order to pass a law that will gain the support of enough legislators, different factions will have to talk to one another, compromise, make trades, persuade, communicate … you know, legislate. Our founders set up the system with human nature built in. Not an anti-utopian system, necessarily, but a system that assumes that we won’t have utopia, we won’t have a perfect union, and in order to have a more perfect one, we will need to be realistic about what goes into that and what works against it.
In the tragic vision, individual sufferings and social evils are inherent in the innate deficiencies of all human beings, whether these deficiencies are in knowledge, wisdom, morality, or courage. Moreover, the available resources are always inadequate to fulfill all the desires of all the people. Thus there are no "solutions" in the tragic vision, but only trade-offs that still leave many unfulfilled and much unhappiness in the world.
Thomas Sowell - “The Vision of the Anointed” p.113
There are innate deficiencies of all human beings and not only individual sufferings but social evils are inherent in them. The available resources are always inadequate to fulfill all the desires of all the people - no solutions, only trade-offs. That is what the founders believed. We have an imperfect system, to be sure, but a system well designed to manage our imperfections - to account for them, to see them and be realistic about who we are and who our opponents are. There will be no glorious final victory over our political enemies, partly because our founders knew, human nature being human nature, that is what we would want. And that, if we gained that final victory, we wouldn’t handle it well. Because we are human and that is what history tells us - and we are no exception. And so it is a nation that seeks to make a way for We the People - actual human beings with fallen human natures - to seek unity and tranquility and security while preserving liberty.
So let’s celebrate the birth of our nation - by appreciating that those who founded it knew us well enough to know what would lead toward a more perfect union, knowing that a perfect union - at least in this age - is beyond our reach.
Links
The Preamble to The Constitution - constitutioncenter.org
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Wikipedia
The Vision of the Anointed - Thomas Sowell, Basic Books, 1996
