What We Fought For

The United States of America is at a critical crossroads at this moment in history. The country is heavily divided over politics, religion and entitlement to basic human rights. Life is in turmoil around the board for many of those living in the US. On the political spectrum, there are two very different sides at odds over the morals and values of the country. However, there is a clear lack of understanding over the history of the United States of America, our formation, the government powers, and the US Constitution. When compared to other countries in around the world, the US is one of the youngest in existence, having only been formed about 250 years ago.

Throughout the history of the world, many civilizations have formed, fallen, been reformed, reforged, and replaced. The history of these events is extremely relevant, especially right now for the USA as we struggle to find our path through the current upheaval we are facing as a nation. It was George Santayana, a Spanish philosopher, who once wrote:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

These words are so vital to the current state of the USA and society on a global scale at this point in time. These words, or other similar sentiments, have been used by both main sides of the political spectrum in recent months to describe what they see and are trying to prevent from the opposing political party. But with both parties using the same exact arguments to describe what is happening and justify actions, who is really on the right side of history? For that answer, we have to actually go back and examine history and compare the actions and arguments of both parties to truly determine where the right moral path lies.

The first truth to understand is that for many of the older generations (Silent Generation, Boomers, Gen X and even some of the Millennial generation) were taught certain "facts" about history that omitted many factual elements that portrayed a less than stellar picture of persons who were considered 'heroes'. For example, Christopher Columbus, who for many older generations was seen as the man who "discovered" America and he was celebrated as a great hero in history. However, those history lessons back then failed to mention the reality of what Columbus actually did.

For one, Columbus discovered a land that was already previously traveled by the Vikings (proof of a Viking encampment was discovered on Newfoundland Island that dates back 500 years before Columbus arrived in America). Plus, the land itself was not undiscovered or new, considering that was already inhabited by indigenous peoples to the continent. Other facts left out about Columbus were his cruelty and slaughter of the indigenous people in America, and his slave ship/slave trading involvement. These are elements that were never mentioned to the older generations when it came to learning about the history of the United States of America.

But why? Why would education be limited to partial facts, rather than a full transparent disclosure? Perhaps it is because the full ugly truth of the countries history may make it difficult for citizens to have the amount of pride in the country to go to war and risk their lives for it? Or hiding the truth makes it easier to keep people complaisant? There are many political reasons for this, and the United States is not the only country that teaches history lessons by glossing over the truth. The main difference is that most other countries have acknowledged and owned their past and have continued to try to learn and grow from what happened. Many in the United States, on the other hand, continue to attempt to distort reality despite factual evidence showing the truth.

One fact that is generally not disputed is that the US fought for freedom and independence. Settlers began to setup colonies on American soil back in 1565 and this continued as more people came to the 'new land'. These settlements were mostly under British control, but there were many other groups of people from other countries and indigenous to the land present. From the start, America was a land of many cultures and races as countries came to lay claim to parts of this 'new land'. The slave trade in the 17th century onward brought thousands upon thousands of Africans into America to be forced to work on plantations. This introduced more cultures and races onto American soil - but this was done by abducting these people from their country and forcing them into slavery. There is no glossing over that fact no matter how much the US attempts to do so.

Land was forcibly and violently taken from the indigenous people who had already been living on American soil. They were slaughtered by the settlers who were laying claim to this 'new land' despite it already being claimed as home to many. The irony in this is that after decades passed, settlers in America decided they wanted to be free from British rule and in 1774 the First Continental Congress was formed to begin fighting for independence. In 1775 the American Revolution officially began under the leadership of George Washington, and by July 4th, 1776 several of the colonies formed in America had declared their independence from British rule. This led to land that was already occupied, but forcibly taken from the indigenous people, now being considered a new independent 'country'.

In 1788 the new constitution for the United States of America officially came into effect and in 1789 George Washington became the first president to be elected to preside over the newly formed nation. This was the beginning of our 'official' history as the United States of America, however many do not know exactly what is in the Constitution or what any of it means. We are going to dive into that first and foremost, because it is extremely important that, as the undisputed "law of the land", knowing and understanding it matters. It begins:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

"WE" the first line begins. This means it is speaking for ALL people living within the United States. The purpose of the document is defined next as a means of insuring, promoting, and securing the country for justice, liberty and defense. Article I of the Constitution clearly defines the two parts of Congress, a Senate and a House of Representatives. It continues by giving the time frame of elections for Congress members, the age rules and citizenship requirements for running for Congress, and gives them the power of impeachment.

As Article I continues, it lists the powers of Congress, which include establishing rules of law, taxation, and declaration of war. These are powers given to CONGRESS - NOT the President of the United States. The legislative branch of the government as established was given the authority to use the powers assigned to them because they were intended to be a mixed ruling government, not from one party, not one person controlling everything. The intent was to ensure that arguments and facts for and against each act could be presented and then voted upon before actions were taken. This was a protection to help prevent the United States of America from becoming controlled by one single ruling party, such as the monarchy, again. This was done to ensure that each individual state, as part of the Union, could have independence and representation at the highest levels of government.

Article II of the Constitution explains the powers of the Executive branch of government, which is that of the President and Vice President of the United States of America. Upon taking office, the incoming President is required to take the following oath of office:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

That oath is extremely important because it clearly states that in holding the Office of President, the individual elected swears to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" of our country. This includes all aspects of the Constitution. All of the laws within it, regardless of if the individual 'likes' them or not. They are not above the law of the land as established by the Founding Fathers. Their oath is not to 'interpret' or 'define' the Constitution. It is to protect and preserve it.

The President is given the power to command the military and make treaties... WITH the approval of Congress. That part is extremely important, because it clarifies that the powers of the Office of President and Vice President of the United States are given under the authority to be cleared by Congress. This means the President cannot just simply sign an Executive Order and make it a law. Executive Orders also cannot override the Federal rules of laws and statutes. In taking the oath of office, the President is swearing that he UNDERSTANDS and WILL adhere to these rules. If he does not, he can be impeached.

The final aspect of our government is the Judicial branch, which is detailed in Article III of the Constitution. This defines the rules for courts and judges to ensure that there is a final check in place regarding the previous two branches of government. The hope is that through all three branches of government, a fair and balanced rule of law that speaks and protects all people within the United States of America can be upheld. Again, the purpose was to make the rule of law for America different from that of the British monarchy rule, to prevent an absolute ruler from having complete unchecked power. This allows judges to insert rulings starting at the state level and move up to the Supreme Court to allow a great chance for a balanced and fair ruling to be established in questions of the law.

These three branches as laid out in the Constitution of the United States of America were created to ensure that there is a system of checks and balances in place. This was done in order to protect the nation from becoming ruled under a single, unchecked, unconditional leader. The Constitution was created to ensure each individual state that formed the Union of the United States of America had a voice. This was the independence and freedom from the single ruler monarchy that was previously in control under British rule. There is meant to be multiple opinions and viewpoints in our government, not one single voice controlling it all.

When once voice dictates all of the laws governing the people... suppressing all opposition... freedom and independence exist no more. This directly violates the Bill of Rights, which was established in 1791 to guarantee the freedom of each individual who is in with United States of America. Both, the US Constitution and the US Bill of Rights establish the rights and protections granted to EVERYONE within the United States of America regardless of immigration status. That is a fact guaranteed in both documents that many fail to understand, especially in the current political arena. These are rights given to all humans the moment they set foot on US soil. This has been established by the Supreme Court during various cases over the decades since it was established.

The Bill of Rights includes allowing individuals within the United States of America freedom to choose and practice their choice of religion. It also allows people the freedom to assemble and protest against any rule of law they deem unjust or wrong. The attempts occurring under the current government control presiding over the US to make these rights 'illegal' and criminal are examples of the oath of office, to preserve and protect the US Constitution, being broken. These are facts, not opinions. These are facts laid out in the US Bill of Rights. These are facts that have been established time and time again by each branch of the US government. These cannot be overridden because a current governing body differs in religion or those voicing opinions against them. That was the purpose of the formation of the US, the fight for freedom from the British monarchy rule of law where one ruler had absolute power.

Over the decades, the United States of America grew substantially from the originally 13 founding states and the fight for freedom for all continued to be a point of conflict for the country. As slavery continued to be a big part of life and the economic structure of the United States, more people began to voice their discontent with this violation of human rights and forced enslavement. By 1854 there was a new political party movement formed, the Republican Party, who believed that slavery should be abolished. In 1860 several of the states forming the United States of America seceded to form the Confederate States of America in order to keep slavery legal. Then in April of 1861, the two parts of America went to war against one another. The Civil War was a significant period in American history in which a conflicting view of moral and political opinions resulted in a massive loss of lives on both sides of the political spectrum.

The Emancipation Proclamation was declared in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln, as the President of the United States, and this meant that slaves in the Confederate states were free. By 1865, The Civil War had ended, the Confederate states were defeated. The Thirteenth Amendment of the US Constitution was created which abolished slavery in the United States of America as a whole. However, while slavery was "ended", this did not grant equal rights under the law to former slaves. Despite the rights of individuals being guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, it was many years before anyone who was not a white man had equality under the law - and even then it was still... questionable. For example, women did not gain the right to vote until 1920 and indigenous people (you know, the people originally living here on US soil before colonists immigrated to America and stole their land) were not allowed to vote until 1924. Even in the present day, it is clear that there is most definitely not equality amongst all people in the United States.

World War I began across Europe in 1914 as nationalists fought to gain freedom from the Austro-Hungarian rule. This escalated as more countries became involved, however the United States of America continued to remain neutral at the beginning of this conflict. It was not until after Germany began to attack neutral ships sailing in European waters that the US finally entered the war. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania causing a loss of American lives was the beginning point to US involvement in this war. In 1917 the United States of America officially joined World War I in alliance with the Allied forces against Germany. World War I officially ended in November of 1918, however it was not to the satisfaction of Germany but they reluctantly signed the Treaty of Versailles. From beginning until ending, World War I resulted in the loss of over 19 million lives, soldiers and civilians alike, killed in a war that began from a desire for freedom from the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy rule.

After the war, the United States of America fell into financial distress as the Great Depression began in 1929. The nation suffered and struggled to survive through the massive financial disarray that created chaos until 1933 when President Roosevelt established the "New Deal" program. The New Deal set forth a base where the federal government intervened in order to help the individual states and persons living in those states who were financially suffering. It helped to create rights for workers, higher wages, and ended the use of children as labor workers. This helped the economy recover from the shambles it had been in for several years and helped establish rights.

After their defeat in World War I, Germany was in a state of chaos as political parties pointed fingers of blame at each other and the people of Germany struggled financially to survive. A egotistical, power hungry man known as Adolf Hitler saw an opportunity and began his rise to absolute power. He saw his chance for power with one of the smaller political parties in Germany, which became the Nazi party. They were not exactly sharing his political ideals and desires, but they were an easy mark for him to gain control over. He used political propaganda to insert himself as an authority figure for this party that lacked a solid leader, and his journey into dictatorship began. He fed off the fears of the people and used their struggles as a means to attack the other ruling parties of government, laying blame for Germany's loss in World War I on their failed leadership skills.

As his prominence in Germany rose, he spoke against the Jewish people and anyone else he saw as not part of the "pure" race. He used fear to push his beliefs and sway the people of Germany into following him, as they believed he would protect and save them from the evils he spoke of. He officially became the leader and Dictator of Germany in 1933, He began to suppress all voices of oppression against him and his regime. He gained full, unchallenged control over the government and the media in Germany as he continued to encourage the hatred of Jewish people and 'enemies' of the state. His military began to gather up people by the masses and place them in Concentration Camps where they were tortured, treated inhumanly, and killed. The people of Germany stayed silent... some out of fear, others out of complicity... and others who pretended it wasn't happening because it did not directly 'affect' them.

By 1939, Germany, under the control of Hitler, had reached an accord with the Soviet Union, under the control of Stalin, where they decided that Poland would be seized and divided between both countries. Hitler was determined to continue to gain control over other nations as he sent his forced to attack the smaller countries, establishing strongholds within their walls. The relationship between Hitler and Stalin quickly soured once Hitler attacked the USSR, and this led to the Soviets joining the Allies in the fight against Germany, Italy and Japan. The United States entered World War II in 1941 after Japan waged an attack against Pearl Harbor. World War II lasted until 1945 when the Allied forces declared victory and Hitler took his own life. Again, the United States of America fought on the side of freedom against tyranny and oppression of rights.

Despite this, freedom in the United States of America for all people was still an issue. Schools were segregated by race, discrimination was a huge issue, and rights were still only guaranteed to certain people. As a country, the United States of America, the people residing within it's land, continued to fight for equality amongst all humans. In 1954 segregation in schools was finally declared unconstitutional; and by 1964 by Civil Rights Act became a law that restricted discrimination based on race, color, religion or nationality. The problem still remained though, because laws cannot change what lies within the heart of a person, nor can they force a person to have empathy for others.

Now, we are witnessing these laws of protection and guarantees of equal rights being pulled back before our eyes as the definition of discrimination becomes twisted to fit the narrative of those in power. The minority is still the same, but the acceptance and cultural blending was becoming more engrained as a part the United States of America. We became a nation of various cultures, people, races and beliefs... a nation that celebrated freedom of choice and encouraged acceptance of those choices and freedoms. Now, that is being unwoven by those who refuse to see past their own ideals and beliefs. Opposition is being declared a crime and lies are being seen as truth. The absolute control and unopposed authority that the United States of America has fought against for centuries is now suddenly being embraced and unquestioned.

Empathy is being preached as a sin by "Christian" leaders who claim to follow the laws of "God", while in the same breath, they are showing complete hypocrisy by going against the teachings in their Bible that they swear on. Our nation is facing a crisis similar to that faced by Germany decades ago, where only certain people are protected while the masses suffer. Other countries, once our allies, are being threatened over demands to hand over their sovereignty because the leader of another country wants to expand his power. These are the same countries that fought along side the United States in previous wars, fighting against tyranny, fighting for freedom. Countries that immediately came to our aid without hesitation or question when we were attacked by terrorists in 2001. Countries who lost thousands of lives in these wars along side us.

Now... the United States of America, a nation formed to fight against any one person holding absolute power over all, is being led by a leader and a party with one goal - to obtain unbalanced control and power. Throughout history, the United States has always had many different opinions and views that people held and fought over. The one constant above all though was the checks and balances within the branches of the US government, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These factors worked in sync, not flawlessly, but still together to try to achieve the goal of protecting the people within the nation from cruelty and oppression. Somewhere along the line, the goal of the government became corrupted by money and power.

This allowed a system that no longer sought to protect or provide for the people. Instead it taxed the people large percentages of their hard earned pay while churches, corporations and the elite paid nothing. Churches lined their buildings in gold and asked for their loyal believers to donate more of their hard earned money for the church, while donating to government bodies that fit their agenda. Corporations and the elite engaged in the same tactics, seeking free rides, easy regulations, laws that protect them over their workers and the "regular" working class. Most other countries in the world continued to advance the rights of their people by protecting them with guarantees of basic human rights, dignity, wages and healthcare.

The United States however, has government voices that have convinced many people that these things are evil and should be earned rather than given as a basic human right for life. This allows for huge amounts of money to stay within the same circles, while the people as a whole suffer and struggle. The goal seems to have become more focused on keeping the majority in their 'place' to keep the status quo the same, rather than truly easing the struggle of the people. Each side of the government claims they want to help, but the status quo and struggle remains a constant part of the "American Dream". Through everything though, there is one constant that remains the same:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

That is what the United States of America is currently struggling to prevent. The number of individuals remaining who were alive during and remember the past world wars are very few. Many of persons in the United States have no true understanding of what a loss of freedom really is; and they lack a solid education that truly speaks for the history of the nation and what was fought for... as well as the millions of lives lost in those fights. That is the failure of the government that has allowed propaganda and false narratives to be taught instead of the ugly truth of the country and the people.

Fear continues to be the ultimate weapon used by these voices that seek only to oppress and remove freedoms from others who don't share their viewpoints. However, the only way to truly excel as a nation is to become a nation built on empathy and equality for all, rather than a nation build on insults, hate towards what is not understood, aggression, bullying, and elimination of rights. And, it is those who fail to acknowledge the reality and truths of the past who will continue to make the same mistakes, repeat the same struggles, and suffer the same losses.

© 2024 Luna Verity

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/story/did-the-vikings-discover-america

https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C18-8-7-2/ALDE_00001262/

https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/dolchp03

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-16759233

https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-constitution/constitution.htm#a1_sec2