But we have kept working at realizing the founding vision for everyone, which has given us the second foundation block of America’s greatness. The model provided to others from our founding to the present has been to persevere and keep grinding to fully realize the founding dream – having the courage and will to keep facing our gaps and commit to “holding the course” in order to pursue the original vision.
It comes from continuing to work at achieving the founding vision, being secure enough to acknowledge that we aren’t there yet, and that we have made mistakes on the path. Our history is full of indefensible discrimination, injustice, and violence. We have poverty, crime, and inequality.
Denying that we have made mistakes ironically denies American Greatness. Our strength has been in continuing to fight to “right the wrongs”, not deny them or defend them.
We have not fully achieved the dream, but neither have we stopped pursuing it. We have not given up and handed over our responsibility (and our freedom) as citizens of a democracy to the false promises of a despot. Americans did not give up in the face of difficulty, frustration, and setbacks. We have held onto the responsibility to achieve the dream – and held onto the power to do so.
The critical point is that we have shown the commitment and courage to acknowledge and confront our gaps and build on our strength. America is great because we are secure enough to say with confidence:
Although we have had a mixed history of progress and backsliding, America has been working at realizing the founding principles and values ever since its beginning. It has been a relentless challenge to choose the right trajectory and to persevere despite a disappointing pace with lots of small and large ups and downs – progress and back-sliding, but no quitting.
Our challenge is to celebrate hard won progress and – at the same time – keep acknowledging where we have come up short in fully realizing America’s promise – and to learn from the experience and keep grinding to fully realize the vision. That is the second foundation block on which American Greatness stands.
