OPINION:
Party platforms lay out the values upon which its members stand. As Democrats prepare to convene their 2020 political convention later this month, their draft platform exhibits a few loose planks. Meant to help Americans gather around a common cause, sadly, it reads like a blueprint for driving them apart.
The Democrats’ platform preamble, crafted to set the tone for their guiding document, begins as follows: “America is an idea — one that has endured and evolved through war and depression, prevailed over fascism and communism, and radiated hope to far distant corners of the earth.” Not surprisingly, Joe Biden starts the blueprint for his long-sought presidency, “Joe’s Vision for America,” with the same four nation-defining words.
There is nothing with argue with there, except for one nit worth picking: America is much more than an idea. Ideas are subject to bending, folding, spindling and mutilating when caught in the whirlwind of conflicting aims. America is not simply an abstraction; it is a place — a place where its people have planted roots that have deepened with the labors of each new generation. In contrast, ideas — trendy policy prescriptions, in particular — bloom and fade with each passing political campaign. America may be refreshed by new views, but it owes its renown as the world’s longest-existing republic to the durability of its roots.
The Democrats’ preamble continues: “Americans believe that diversity is our greatest strength.” Some asseverations become cliches because they strike a deep chord of recognition; others catch hold simply because they are repeated with mind-numbing frequency. This statement is particularly giggle-worthy in light of the party’s decidedly diversity-free stance toward free speech. For example, affirmation that “Black lives matter” will earn a pat on the back, while indiscreetly muttering, “All lives matter” will draw a kick in the rear.
Americans may recall a competing cliché: There is strength in numbers. When multiple strands of steel are bound together, they form a cable. Cables twisted tightly together create the sinews of titanic strength able to support a massive structure like a suspension bridge.
Unity as the key to strength is a lesson the ancient Greek storyteller, Aesop, memorialized in his fable titled “The Bundle of Sticks.” In it, a father cures his sons of incessant quarreling by challenging each one to break a sheaf of twigs bound tightly together. None can, until the wise man unties the bunch and hands one stick to each of them: snap, snap, snap. “If you are divided among yourselves,” he concludes, “you will be no stronger than a single stick in that bundle.”
It was a lesson well understood by Patrick Henry when he instructed his fellow firebrands of the American Revolution, “United we stand, divided we fall.” Elementary truisms have been the stuff of common sense for generations. “E Pluribus Unum” means “Out of many, one,” not “Out of one, many.” Asserting strength in diversity, Democrats would turn America’s motto upside-down.
The platform preamble continues: “That protest is among the highest forms of patriotism.” Do tell. In disbelief, Americans have gasped at news videos of black-clad hellions pelting police with rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails while they vandalize and loot businesses, attempt to burn down federal buildings, stake out autonomous zones exempt from U.S. law. Occasionally, they kill innocent citizens wandering into their path.
What appears to be insurrection, according to the Democratic Party catechism, is actually “among the highest forms of patriotism.” Top party leaders on Capitol Hill remain mum in the face of acts that regular Americans take for domestic terrorism. Perhaps Mr. Biden should explain to the law-abiding why these “patriots” delight in burning the Stars and Stripes.
Fortunately, the Democratic preamble circles back toward the boundaries of reason, declaring: “That our fates and fortunes are bound to rise and fall together.” Judging from the party’s refusal to defend the pillars of the Republic, a lot more falling is in the cards than rising.
If there is something in the Democratic Party’s platform worth preserving, it would be the following: “That even when we fall short of our highest ideals, we never stop trying to build a more perfect union.” Americans, one and all, can agree with that.
“Variety is the spice of life,” it is said. Diversity, in all its biological and cultural expressions, enriches this unique nation, but the key to forming “a more perfect union” — the aim of Democrats and Republicans alike — is unity.
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