There are many famous lines in Shakespeare, some of which are misunderstood when taken out of context. One such misunderstood line comes from the play "Twelfth Night," and is spoken by an obnoxious buffoon named Malvolio. He is a hapless steward in the household of Countess Olivia, and so disliked by other members of the household that they decide to play a trick on him. They deliver to him a love letter that they crafted but which purports to be from Olivia. The letter deceives him into believing that the Countess is in love with him, and sets him up for a humiliating fall. The line, seemingly, but mockingly, in praise of his high station, is: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them!" (The last part of the phrase has an intended sexual innuendo that, of course, was lost on the pompous fool.)
Putting aside the letter's insincerity and innuendo, is there any truth to the premise that some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness bestowed upon them? And more critically, do any of those paths to greatness describe the American experience?
These are timely questions given the political rhetoric that has been rampant these past two years. The slogan "Make America Great Again" has become so ubiquitous, appearing on the red hats of Trump and his faithful, that all one has to do today is write the letters "MAGA" to be understood. The slogan's clear implication is that America once was great, is not great now, and needs a new leader to restore its greatness. This three-part message is open to challenge, but Presidential critics do so at their peril. Witness New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo, who damaged his own reelection campaign by saying that America was never that great to begin with. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Meghan McCain received applause at the funeral of her heroic father when she said, in a stern tone no doubt directed at the absent, uninvited President, that America has always been great.
Who is right? Was America never great, always great, or once-great but now off track? Was America born great, did it achieve greatness, or is greatness yet to come? The answers to these questions depend on whom we include in "America" and how we define "great."
Let's start with "born great." Most agree that America was born at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a birth that reached fruition with the surrender of the British at Yorktown and the adoption of the United States Constitution. The remembrances spoken at Senator McCain's funeral yesterday and the memorial service in Arizona before that reminded us that American greatness is rooted in the ideals of our founding fathers: that all are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and most fundamentally, that all are created equal. The brilliance of the American experiment is that we are a country not defined by a common national origin, but rather by a set of enlightened principles designed to make and keep us free. Adherence to these principles is what makes us Americans, and what makes America a beacon of liberty to the world.
So was America "born great?" If we define greatness by the adoption of these ideals enshrined in a Constitution designed to preserve and promote them, the answer is a resounding "yes." But we also have to recognize that American greatness, so defined, has had significant and, indeed, tragic limits. At its inception, the fullness of American liberty was reserved to a privileged group, specifically, white men. Women were not accorded equal rights, and African slaves were accorded none. Native Americans too were uprooted from their ancestral homes and treated inhumanely. So yes, because it was built on a set of principles that ensured liberty and justice for some and that established the means to eventually secure liberty and justice for all, America was born great. But because only some Americans were the immediate beneficiaries of our founding ideals, the seeds of greatness would need time and much sacrifice to take root and grow.
If America was not born great for all, has it achieved such greatness? The answer to that question depends on how greatness is defined. Those who define it by economic and military might have a strong case that America has achieved greatness, especially during and following the Second World War. That is the greatness that Trump refers to - a greatness defined by power more than principle. His core message, that America's power has been diminished by failures of leadership in the Executive branch that he alone can fix, is the cornerstone of his followers' support.
This form of greatness - greatness as power - also has significant limits. A nation that seeks to exert power by flexing its muscles, without also promoting a set of basic human values, sacrifices influence and leadership among the nations of the world. Most of our Presidents have understood the importance of balancing the attainment of power with the advancement of liberty, and indeed have understood such advancement to be one of power's most fundamental purposes. Unfortunately, such understanding seems to have eluded the current Administration, which sees power principally as a means of increasing the nation's already extraordinary wealth, primarily to benefit the wealthiest of its citizens. Power as a means of personal enrichment takes on an entirely different character from power as a tool for serving humanity. And, as Trump's critics are quick to point out, his efforts to employ our nation's economic and military power to impose his will on our unwilling allies does more to weaken America's standing in the world than to make us stronger.
If we accept a different definition of greatness, one that sees improvement of the human condition as the end for which power is merely the means, it is wrong to think about American greatness as something that was, in the past, achieved, rather than something that America is continuously achieving. We have, of course, made tremendous progress in the near quarter of a millennium since our nation's birth. Yes, we have the strongest military, and our economy is second-to-none, but more important, the American ideals of liberty and equality have been enhanced and extended to more and more of our citizens. Still, the work is far from complete. There is much left to be done, much more progress that needs to be made to guarantee equal rights for women, minorities, immigrants, and the poor, a justice system that secures those rights, and a government that works effectively to ensure that America's promise is extended to all people within its borders. And this work requires constant vigilance, especially when those in power demonstrate indifference, and even hostility, to America's founding principles.
So was America born great? Yes, but initially only for some. Has America achieved greatness? Yes, the core values enshrined in our Constitution, including the very structure of our government, have allowed America to achieve ever-increasing heights of greatness that have benefited more and more people over time. Did America lose its greatness? No, we are still a great nation, and will remain so as long as we use our power to serve democratic values, and not to supplant them. Is there more greatness to be achieved? Absolutely. But it will require a sustained effort to advance the causes of liberty and justice for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and economic status. Being great, as measured by our founding ideals, is not something to be grasped, but something we must constantly reach for, recognizing the limits of what we have so far achieved, and always pressing to accomplish more.
Putting aside the letter's insincerity and innuendo, is there any truth to the premise that some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness bestowed upon them? And more critically, do any of those paths to greatness describe the American experience?
These are timely questions given the political rhetoric that has been rampant these past two years. The slogan "Make America Great Again" has become so ubiquitous, appearing on the red hats of Trump and his faithful, that all one has to do today is write the letters "MAGA" to be understood. The slogan's clear implication is that America once was great, is not great now, and needs a new leader to restore its greatness. This three-part message is open to challenge, but Presidential critics do so at their peril. Witness New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo, who damaged his own reelection campaign by saying that America was never that great to begin with. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Meghan McCain received applause at the funeral of her heroic father when she said, in a stern tone no doubt directed at the absent, uninvited President, that America has always been great.
Who is right? Was America never great, always great, or once-great but now off track? Was America born great, did it achieve greatness, or is greatness yet to come? The answers to these questions depend on whom we include in "America" and how we define "great."
Let's start with "born great." Most agree that America was born at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a birth that reached fruition with the surrender of the British at Yorktown and the adoption of the United States Constitution. The remembrances spoken at Senator McCain's funeral yesterday and the memorial service in Arizona before that reminded us that American greatness is rooted in the ideals of our founding fathers: that all are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and most fundamentally, that all are created equal. The brilliance of the American experiment is that we are a country not defined by a common national origin, but rather by a set of enlightened principles designed to make and keep us free. Adherence to these principles is what makes us Americans, and what makes America a beacon of liberty to the world.
So was America "born great?" If we define greatness by the adoption of these ideals enshrined in a Constitution designed to preserve and promote them, the answer is a resounding "yes." But we also have to recognize that American greatness, so defined, has had significant and, indeed, tragic limits. At its inception, the fullness of American liberty was reserved to a privileged group, specifically, white men. Women were not accorded equal rights, and African slaves were accorded none. Native Americans too were uprooted from their ancestral homes and treated inhumanely. So yes, because it was built on a set of principles that ensured liberty and justice for some and that established the means to eventually secure liberty and justice for all, America was born great. But because only some Americans were the immediate beneficiaries of our founding ideals, the seeds of greatness would need time and much sacrifice to take root and grow.
If America was not born great for all, has it achieved such greatness? The answer to that question depends on how greatness is defined. Those who define it by economic and military might have a strong case that America has achieved greatness, especially during and following the Second World War. That is the greatness that Trump refers to - a greatness defined by power more than principle. His core message, that America's power has been diminished by failures of leadership in the Executive branch that he alone can fix, is the cornerstone of his followers' support.
This form of greatness - greatness as power - also has significant limits. A nation that seeks to exert power by flexing its muscles, without also promoting a set of basic human values, sacrifices influence and leadership among the nations of the world. Most of our Presidents have understood the importance of balancing the attainment of power with the advancement of liberty, and indeed have understood such advancement to be one of power's most fundamental purposes. Unfortunately, such understanding seems to have eluded the current Administration, which sees power principally as a means of increasing the nation's already extraordinary wealth, primarily to benefit the wealthiest of its citizens. Power as a means of personal enrichment takes on an entirely different character from power as a tool for serving humanity. And, as Trump's critics are quick to point out, his efforts to employ our nation's economic and military power to impose his will on our unwilling allies does more to weaken America's standing in the world than to make us stronger.
If we accept a different definition of greatness, one that sees improvement of the human condition as the end for which power is merely the means, it is wrong to think about American greatness as something that was, in the past, achieved, rather than something that America is continuously achieving. We have, of course, made tremendous progress in the near quarter of a millennium since our nation's birth. Yes, we have the strongest military, and our economy is second-to-none, but more important, the American ideals of liberty and equality have been enhanced and extended to more and more of our citizens. Still, the work is far from complete. There is much left to be done, much more progress that needs to be made to guarantee equal rights for women, minorities, immigrants, and the poor, a justice system that secures those rights, and a government that works effectively to ensure that America's promise is extended to all people within its borders. And this work requires constant vigilance, especially when those in power demonstrate indifference, and even hostility, to America's founding principles.
So was America born great? Yes, but initially only for some. Has America achieved greatness? Yes, the core values enshrined in our Constitution, including the very structure of our government, have allowed America to achieve ever-increasing heights of greatness that have benefited more and more people over time. Did America lose its greatness? No, we are still a great nation, and will remain so as long as we use our power to serve democratic values, and not to supplant them. Is there more greatness to be achieved? Absolutely. But it will require a sustained effort to advance the causes of liberty and justice for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and economic status. Being great, as measured by our founding ideals, is not something to be grasped, but something we must constantly reach for, recognizing the limits of what we have so far achieved, and always pressing to accomplish more.
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