Sunday
Jul062014
Sunday, July 6, 2014 at 12:41PM
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people... to assume... the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...
We spent July 4th in San Francisco. On the plane ride down I began reading Elizabeth Warren's book A Fighting Chance. Then while listening to KQED, the local NPR station, I heard a very erudite discussion about the Declaration of Independence. We often focus on our "rights" as if they are self-actualizing but as Warren chronicles her life it's clear that rights hinge on government action.
In the real world the connection between us doing our thing as individuals and the government impeding or embracing the concept of rights is obvious to me.
Returning on the red-eye special from 5 days in San Francisco eating well, riding the cable and trolley cars and enjoying the scenes of the City by the Bay punctuated this reality. San Francisco has a very diverse population and attracts tourists from all over the world. At dinner we heard different languages being spoken and saw people of all races enjoying the 4th of July from Market Street to Fisherman's Wharf.
On the trip to Portland our packed to the gills plane was similarly diverse headed to what people think of "white bread" Oregon. That was Oregon of my youth but not any more. I enjoyed sitting in SFO for several hours watching an Hispanic family including what I assumed were Grandpa and Grandma with 5 well behaved grand-children, 4 little girls and a boy ages @ 7-10.
At one point I asked the Grandfather if they were going to Portland but he waved me off indicating he didn't speak English. The kids didn't either to their elders but I suspect they are bi-lingual if they live in Oregon as appeared to be the case when I saw them being greeted by their Oregon family at PDX. I thought the girls were cute, what do you expect from a grand father to a 4 year old grand daughter?
So at the end of the July 4th week and despite acrimonious fights over immigration in Congress and beyond, our county is becoming more not less diverse and we are better for it. Of course this is coming from a person whose extended family tree includes Italian, German, English, Japanese, East Indian and Jewish roots plus religious diversity from Congregational, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical and Mormon traditions.
While Ann and I were having a lemonade in The Buena Vista bar I talked political philosophy with a young woman from Israel who attended Columbia U in NYNY and was headed to Portland hoping to land a teaching job! She and her two lady friends were headed to see La Traviata simulcast in ATT Park where we saw the Cards beat the Giants! Go figure what will happen in a crowded bar when you are seated with people you've never met.
Viva la differance as we pursue "life, liberty and happiness." A belated happy 4th 2014...
Reader Comments (1)
It's important to keep in mind that American democracy is a work in progress not a finished thing. Our experiment with representative government began when the Mayflower colony was founded in 1620.
For most of our history ideological and even violent sectarian divides have been a fact of life. The Founders were not of one mind about the role of religion in our public life - not unlike today.
It took a revolutionary war, a civil war and two world wars for us to reach this point. So the violence coming out of the Arab Spring attempt at democracy building should be no surprise. As they say "Rome wasn't built in a day."
Lesson: the locals own the problem not the USA.