I have this website. There’s your proof right there. I’m almost sixty, have no college education, can barely turn on a computer. I did run for political office, in seventh grade! It’s quite apparent I’m not a writer. Spellcheck doesn’t like me at all. I mow lawns to help balance the family budget for goodness sake. I should not have been the one to find that foundingprinciple.org was still open for the taking. Websites have been available for how long now? I don’t know, I don’t know anything about it. Isn’t there like a billion people on the web now? How is it possible I’ve got this website? I’ll tell you how. We have truly forgotten our Founding Principle and/or consider it irrelevant. The proof is right in front of you.
The learned should be speaking and writing of this. They should have this website. The historians, the sociologists, the psychologists, lawyers, politicians, microbiologists and philosophers. Even capitalists and flimflammers. Somebody other than me should have this website!
I don’t even want it. I don’t like or want attention. I’ve had enough drama. I’ve put in my 100,000 hours of work. I’m getting tired. I just want to relax with my family and pets. I’m good. I don’t need this. This is certainly no dream of mine, though I do recall a nightmare like this, except I think I was naked.
Uhh, where was I? Oh yeah, see, I’m nowhere near qualified. I know that. How is it, that no one smart has brought America’s Founding Principle to the forefront? There is only one Founding Principle and this occurred to no one? How is this possible?
It dawned on me eight years ago, the wind chimes have been ringing for decades, but the klaxon horn sounded with the dramatic rise of hate groups and overt racism brought out by the campaign and election of President Obama. Only those who refused to see it, didn’t see it. I thought this the perfect opportunity for the leaders, the pundits, the educators, to speak out, to bring up our Founding Principle. Instead, are those crickets chirping? Is that a tumbleweed? Nothing! (Or very little). I truly worried about the precedent set. What, if unchecked, could this bring about?
So I, empowered by the equality of “…all men are created equal…” scratched a couple of notes to my senator and representative, sent also to the major media outlets. Not for public view, just to ask them to please bring this up. No need to get back with me. Just a suggestion. Knowing certainly they’ve thought of this or they might not even read them or if they did, at least they got a chuckle out of my simple naivety. “What has our Founding Principle got to do with terrorism, with our crime in the streets, with our disappearing middle class, our national debt, our border issues? All of these problems of today, right now? Hey Joe, this guy thinks America’s Founding Principle can fix it all, like some magic sentence. Let’s sell him some beans, huh! Heh-heh, Founding Principle, get real.”
That was seven years ago. The implications of “…all men are created equal…” still not discussed. This website still orphaned. I wrote a few more letters a year ago, each more strident than the previous. I gotta do something. This is now the wholesale absolution of our Founding Principle with the destruction of Individual Liberty of all those caught up in this immigrant and Muslim dragnet. This now, has to be as obvious as the nose on your face. Please discuss this Principle!
People are awake. The protests, mostly at Trump rallies, show that many do see a big problem. There were just so many problems with him, focus was next to impossible. I now sent out the compilations of my letters to thirty or so politicians and news agencies. Please bring up our Founding Principle! Please, somebody ring that Liberty Bell!!
I’ve lived my life by the rule, if you want something done, do it yourself. So, OK, let’s try this internet thing. I looked up foundingprinciple.com, it squiggly red lined underneath it. “Did you mean foundingprinciples?” I said “no, just the one. The first one.” Sorry Charlie. Can this be? We have all forgotten our Founding Principle so much, no one has even gotten this simple website? The scale of my quest just multiplied. Jiminy guys! I shook my head. This is further proof we have forgotten our Founding Principle.
Again, I know, if you want something done, do it yourself. But I also know, if you want something done right, it takes a team. I’m going to register this website, voice my reasons why our Founding Principle is so important, voice the imperative. I will tell Joe that if the world knows we stand for equality for all, not just capitalism, terrorists’ recruitment would lessen. If folks knew they had an equal opportunity, they could have hope, it would lessen crime in the streets. If “…all men were created equal…” was applied, the poor could rise up and the rich would feel duty towards others. With this high ground as the example, other countries could keep their citizens safe and home if they do the same. Our international regard would soar if what we stood for was our Founding Principle. That Joe, is what our Founding Principle can fix, yes, today. Right now. It’s not magic.
To do things right, it takes a team. With this website I will ask the people of the world to spread the words. If nothing else, just ask people, “What is America’s Founding Principle?” You don’t even need an answer. Just plant the seed. People can’t help but think about it. And you cannot unring a bell. Even if this bell has a crack in it.
All of us need to see this as our patriotic duty, to integrate this into our lives, to think about it ourselves. We need to bring it up, to co-workers, to family, to strangers, to opponents. This is the goal of America itself. The freedom you can achieve when you give everyone, even folks you can’t see, folks you will never see, their Individual Liberty with “…all men are created equal…”. (It means you get it, too.)
I wrote my notes, my paragraphs, all to and for myself. To battle my struggle with word wits. Most often, five minutes or five days after an uncomfortable situation, I say, “I should have said this or that.” Always too late. Always to no avail. Reading over my notes, over and over, committing them to memory, has helped clarify my thoughts, has helped in my confidence. It’s no cure, I am an amateur, I can be cowardly. But a billboard I saw coming back from Alabama over Thanksgiving hit me hard. It said, “Evil will flourish when good men stay silent.” I am good people. I can no longer stay silent. And I know, we are good people. We can no longer stay silent.
This discussion can no longer be taboo. We need to let this genie out of the bottle. Please read my letters. I know they are crude, amateurish, even child-like, I’m aware. Put your touches on them, fix them, no patents pending. But the essence is there.
Please remind ourselves and the world. We do hold these Truths. We are dedicated to this Proposition. We will live out the true meaning of our Creed, that all men are created equal.
This is America’s greatest tool. America’s greatest gift.
America’s Founding Principle.
Please, spread the words!