Two hundred years ago, a group of remarkable yet flawed men created a government unlike any the world had ever seen. Unlike what you may have been taught in grade school, they did not create an equal society or anything resembling a true democracy. They disagreed, passionately, about issues of incredible importance. In many cases, they became bitter rivals. Their genius was not they created an ideal government, but that they created a government that could survive and thrive with a diversity of opinions, where power was balanced in the hands of many institutions, where tyranny could not survive because opposition was understood to be natural and healthy.
Now, however, institutions which form the foundation of American society face historic levels of distrust. Americans are no longer convinced that they can trust government officials, the wisdom of our courts, the intentions of our sources of news and, most disturbingly, each other.
We need to resurrect our shared sense of identity. We need to recognize that our differences cannot justify a basic rejection of the mechanisms that have allowed our country to survive and prosper for so long. We need to rediscover unity. We need to revive trust.
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