Friends,
Many Americans today worry that our nation is losing its national identity.
Some claim loudly that the core of that identity requires better policing of our borders.
Others worry that white Christian America is being replaced by other races, religions, and ethnicities.
But neither our border nor our dominant race, religion, and ethnicity defines America.
We’re defined by the ideals we share, the good we hold in common.
That common good is a set of shared commitments. To the rule of law. To democracy. To tolerance of our differences. To equal rights and equal opportunities for everyone. To upholding the truth.
We cannot have a functioning society without these shared commitments. Absent a common good, there can be no “we” to begin with.
If we’re losing our national identity, it is because we are losing our sense of the common good. This is what must be restored.
Some of you may feel such a quest to be hopeless. Well, I disagree. Continue here....
-- Robert Reich
