Is There a Better Hell on Earth Than USA?

Letter to Romans: Lincoln lived by our Declaration of Independence that astounded the world with unheard of faith in equality, liberty & self-governance. Much of its bold promises of a perfect Heaven on Earth still haven’t been or ever will be fulfilled. But name a better hell.

That is pretty much the gist of US Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch’s recent WSJ commentary titled, “How Imperfect People Form a More Perfect Union.” He urged us to “Think of the Declaration of Independence as the nation’s report card” on whether we’re living up to it at any point in time. Of course, the Justice concedes, the nation’s Road Less Travelled has been filled with potholes & roadblocks. Think the sinful legacy of slavery. A rebellion in which at least 750,000 men died to reunite the country & end that stain. A Manifest Destiny that included Indian wars. But Justice Gorsuch warned against those “imperfections” blinding us “to the tremendous inheritance we have received ...

“... Even a quick glance through history & a quick glance around our world today confirms how rare it is for a nation to be founded on the hope of realizing equality, liberty & self-government for its citizens. As Daniel Webster [had] observed, it took thousands of years of human history for a nation devoted to the Declarations three great ideas to arise … and ‘miracles’ like that ‘do not cluster.’” Then, again, we’re reminded, the Founding Fathers debated bitterly over fighting for independence, then, while crafting their Constitution, only to be amended by the Bill of Rights. As Justice Gorsuch warned, however, our unique nation’s “real guarding of, and its hope for the future, [still] lies in the hearts of the American people. Equality, liberty & self-government became the nation’s creed because Americans in generation after generation chose them. And the survival of those ideas depends on each passing generation learning about them anew, engaging with the history that gave rise to them and choosing them all over again.”

Davd Soul