Opinion: 250th anniversary a time to celebrate the sacred messiness of democracy
iStock illustration
Editor's note: This editorial was written by ASU President Michael Crow in honor of America's semiquincentennial.
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the world’s greatest experiment in democracy, it comes at a time when we hear a lot of noise telling us how divided we are as a nation.
Michael Crow is the 16th president of Arizona State University and the guiding force behind its evolving model for a 21st-century public research university.
Differences of opinion are not new to this country. We may have conveniently forgotten that the country was built not only to tolerate differences but to protect them. It is a foundational American value, beginning with the Revolutionary War, an act of self-determination about which people strongly disagreed.
Our national origin is rightly a point of pride and has seduced us to a romanticized version of what transpired two and a half centuries ago. Not everyone agreed on the question of independence — about one-third of the populace remained loyal to the crown. Another third was in favor of independence. The last third just wanted it to be over.
Sound familiar?
As we look forward to the next 250 years, we would do well to remember a couple of things.
First is that democracy is not a family heirloom that we inherited. It is not something we hold onto while value appreciates. It is an ongoing opportunity, a chance and a responsibility to continue to evolve the model. That means all of us — all the institutions, schools, universities, communities and governments, local, state and federal — must continue to pursue and fulfill the promises of the Declaration of Independence.
And second, we are still very early in the process; 250 years is nothing. We are in the second inning of the game. And, like baseball, this is a game with no clock. The Declaration of Independence, the preamble that lays out the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, among others, the notion of all people being created equal — that was just the top of the first inning.
And then, of course, we had some lingering unresolved questions about this declaratory document because people were not actually equal — women couldn’t vote, Black people were held in slavery. Justice was unequal. And so, we began working toward a fuller realization of the goal that the declaration identified, this notion of governance by the people, all people being equal, and everyone being granted unalienable rights.
We all will not see things the same way. My rights and your rights become our rights, and as the preamble goes on to say, “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
We celebrate the right to debate and discuss, the right to present new solutions in the marketplace of ideas, the right to deliberate and decide and to vote. This is the messy business of democracy. The telling of history makes it tidy, but in the moment, self-determination is an ongoing debate. The rejection of tyranny is an embrace of a system that is supposed to be more difficult to administer than a monarchy.
The United States is not a final artifact or outcome but an innovative prototype that needs ongoing assessment, adjustment and improvement toward its goals, which also continue to evolve.
When this all began, America was a country of about 2.5 million people, of which 70,000 people died in the Revolution. In today’s population scale, that would be the equivalent of 9.5 million people who died fighting for independence. It was an unbelievable commitment. Those many sacrifices gave birth to a new way of doing things, which remains the pursuit of men and women, imperfect each one of us.
Our disunity is not a matter to despair. Democracy makes room for that, and it provides the tools for resolution. We access those tools through learning, one of the inalienable rights that lives “among others.”
Higher education is a learning tool of democracy that has been here from the beginning. Nearly half of the signers had attended college, a remarkably high concentration at a time when a college education was extremely rare. Faculty and students debated the idea of independence openly at a time when doing so was genuinely dangerous. College campuses were incubators of anti-British sentiment.
Today, as during the Revolution, the Civil War, world wars and America’s civil rights conflicts, universities continue to be an important instrument of democracy and equality.
What we ask of our universities has evolved along with our country. Arizona State University is built to be a New American University that is responsive to the needs of the country and that serves the people of this nation. It is a university built on the notion of inclusion versus exclusion, egalitarian access and the success of the individual student.
Through the combined efforts of the entire ASU community, we are setting the standard of what an American university ought to be — while simultaneously being of service to the nation and taking responsibility for the outcomes that move us forward. The ASU Charter is not only a promise to the people of Arizona, it is our commitment to continue striving for the principles of democracy.
On the 250th anniversary of the brave men and women whose sacrifice and commitment built this country, it is our opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to continue the argument and to continue working out our differences.
So, thinking not of the present but of the future that awaits our children and grandchildren, as we pause to celebrate the birth of America, what can you do to help move the country forward?
More Local, national and global affairs
ASU collaboration explores Indo-Pacific security during Hawaiʻi forum
By Georgann YaraResearchers and experts from Arizona State University and two other leading research universities explored the importance of maintaining global security and defense amid rapidly…
Student-produced documentaries give a voice to small nonprofits in the community
Kim Thomas spent 32 years behind bars for an action that only took 37 seconds of her life. And now those 37 seconds have defined who she is — and what she can and cannot do. Her story is one of…
Arizona State University wins federal contract to offer war and strategy degree to government leaders
Arizona State University has been selected by the Department of Defense to offer a new master’s degree in war and strategy, using intensive seminars, war games and rigorous coursework to train our…