What We the People heard on the National Mall tonight
I am grateful to have been able to cycle down to the National Mall tonight to bear witness to history with my daughter, for many reasons. We joined tens of thousands of Americans, as the crowd spilled out of the Ellipse south of the White House and stretched up to the Washington Monument. Young and old, kids with parents, students and friends, in all of the District’s glorious diversity.
We contained restless multitudes, walking and cycling and scooting down to hear Vice President Kamala Harris make her case “for the People,” to the People, on a night that will offer a glimpse of what could have been or open a window into what will be.
I was reminded all along our ride that our union has been built by what Americans can do when we work together, not by what tears us apart or who divides us for partisan gain or commercial profit.
I was reminded that a nation of, by, and for the People can only long endure if we are all active citizens, collaborating to adapt, improve, and overcome the challenges our generation inherited or those we encounter in the years ahead.
I was reminded that a more perfect union is still possible in our lifetimes if we can find a way to turn the page on the darkest chapters of our history.
We can write a new story that our children’s children will remember in a vast, multiracial, pluralistic country in which life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not a broken promise, but the birthright of every American born into liberty or naturalized into a nation that is has been defined by the dynamism of immigrants and lifted by the extraordinary achievements of their children.
We might begin with how we found our way back after the paired national traumas of a historic pandemic and seditious mob violence, after a petty tyrant refused to accept defeat & incited insurrection.
Then we could continue with how we found a way forward, together, past the religious differences and racial divides that have kept us from becoming one nation, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all in this young millennium.
Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris reminded me that our union’s first national motto remains the enduringly apt metaphor for a young democracy, born again in 1965 on the tide of the greatest peaceful movement for civil rights in world history, but still yearning to breath free:
“”E Pluribus Unum’— ‘out of many, one’ — isn’t just a phrase on a dollar bill,” she said. “It is a living truth about the heart of our nation.”
As you may know, this motto has deep resonance for me. I chose E-PluribusUnum.org as the name for my website about open government in 2013 and carved out the 13 stars from the Great Seal of the United States as an avatar.
Back in 1776, “E Pluribus Unum“ was intended to be a definitive statement that reflected the determination of the nation’s founding fathers to form one nation from thirteen colonies.
In the centuries since, as the United States has expanded and other nations have adopted democratic governments of, by, and for the people, the motto has come to stand for something more.
I view it as a common creed in which a civic nationalism unites families, neighbors, cities, and states around our common cause.
To me, “E Pluribus Unum” describes a stronger, vibrant and more democratic compact which honors and celebrates freedom as a basic condition for human dignity.
Freedom of worship.
Freedom of marriage.
Freedom to dissent.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom of movement.
Freedom of association.
Freedom of religion.
Freedom of the press.
Freedom to access information.
Freedom to work.
Freedom to breathe clean air.
Freedom to access health care.
Freedom to drink clean water.
Freedom to vote.
May we all find a way to be worthy of the service and sacrifices of all of the Americans who have brought us to this inflection point in history, as we face whatever lies ahead.
