It is a narrative of "We the People" that doesn't rely on a false historical conscience nor embrace a co-opted corporate view of citizenship. It is a many-storied story made out of both/and rather than either/or. It is a big picture story.
That is the master narrative of American history I want to once again celebrate. That is the America, and an American narrative, large enough to contain all of us, as the poet Walt Whitman put it, including all of our contradictions. It is the many-storied story of who and what we are that makes us proud of our heritage, proud of each other, and one that speaks volumes to the central idea that when we have been this deeply divided, we have always found the courage to set aside differences in the name of a common good. As a result, we have grown stronger as a nation, and as a people, because of it. That is the reason the founders created our form of government in the first place. And that, Tea Partiers, is why being anti-government is neither patriotic nor prudent.
What we do know is that "the narrative"--however it is defined or whatever it is used to mean--is important to that better, collective end. So important, in fact, that our lives and the fate of our nation in the world may well depend on them.
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