The urge
America was born into an ideal: that all people were created equal. That ideal was immediately submerged in a world that was very unequal. In 1776, most injustice wasn’t even considered injustice, just the way of things. But that founding ideal of innate equality persisted. It endured, and it spread, because it represented a very human urge to seek Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity, the same urge that had caused so many of those early Americans to come in the first place [and held even more dearly by those who were “brought”].
This idea of the innate equality of people spread rapidly among the common people during the Revolution. Few of us have even heard about this, just how many people began to look at the lofty Enlightenment sentiments being voiced by the elite white men leading the revolution, and began wondering “why not me, too?”
Of course, the world was not ready for the principle of real equality back then, and America wasn’t either. Those popular sentiments to make the ideals of the Declaration of Independence apply to everyone were quietly shut down in the aftermath. The power of wealth and tradition reasserted itself, along with the social norms of eighteenth century America. Sure, back then some people argued about ending slavery, but virtually nobody in the white world wanted actual social and political equality for black Americans. Native Americans weren’t even considered American, and women were considered vassals of their husbands. There was no urge for equality for Catholics either. Catholics were “papists”, the Satanic enemies of democracy [yep, that’s you Catholic Americans, all 60+ million of you]. The seeds of true equality that had been stirred up in the Revolution were strong, but they had their limits, and they were crushed.
But the urge remained. Those opening words from the Declaration of Independence hung over everybody, taught in schools and read aloud every Fourth of July. The ideal persisted, and for all its zigzags and delays, that innate human urge for a just society has led us right to where we are today: an America where .. for the very first time in history .. the majority of our citizens believe in the inalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
But the moment is fragile. The acceptance of these principals by many is tentative at best, the often-confused product of massive social change. And just as they did after the Revolution, the forces that represent the elite have struck back. Vast amounts of money have been spent to crush that innate urge, to unleash forces to draw this nation back to the past. The results are all around us.
And what have we done as all this counter-revolution has unfolded. How have the champions of a truly just society fought back? Where is our vast, well-funded organization dedicated to nothing more than American values and American identity? Where are our wealthy that actually care about the future of this country rather than ego and access to power? Where, indeed, are the basic principals of a just society even written down? Those words etched in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence are not law. They are not even modern English, let alone a working blueprint for the basic social norms we need to move forward.
We need that base to stand on, and we need it now. We are facing a whole new way of politics. It’s based on emotion and identity, and it is powerful. Yet we continue to fight the old way, with policies and facts and outrage. It’s business as usual, only the usual doesn’t exist anymore.
This is why the Democratic Creed exists, and it’s why the idea it represents is spreading so quickly among the grassroots all across this country. We need to wake up, every American who cares about the moral future of this country. We need to grasp what’s really going on. We need to understand that this is no longer just about the next election, it’s about the next ten elections. It’s about why we’re involved in politics in the first place. We need to take a stand on values and identity and emotion, and we need to shout it out. We need to inspire. We need to create a grassroots movement, the enthusiasm that is fundamental if we want to move this country irrevocably in the direction of a just society .. as long as it takes.
J.M. Purvis is the founder of Democrats 101, Inc., and the author of Democrats 101
