In my advocacy work, I’m often left feeling that it doesn’t have to be this way. So many policy choices are just that – choices. Yet we often resign ourselves to the belief that this is just the way it is. We convince ourselves that we have to deal with it.

In those moments, we have a choice to make, because the tone with which that phrase is said changes everything:

• It doesn’t have to be this way (said with resignation).
• It doesn’t have to be this way (said with hopeful – and stubborn – determination).

I’ve realized that one is a sigh; the other is a fire. I am choosing the fire.

Choosing the fire of determination means accepting a difficult truth: that a fair process is more important than our preferred result. It means being willing to lose an argument to save our integrity.

Indeed, it is the road less traveled.

As I’ve pondered the events of the past year (and week) against the backdrop of history, I feel a heavy concern…and yet, a stubborn hope. Many of our current problems stem from extreme partisanship rather than a failure to solve problems effectively. That means that change is possible, and I cling to that knowledge.

As we approach our country’s 250th birthday, this may be the reckoning we need. It is a moment to shake off our complacency. A moment to recognize the mounting threats to our democracy. It is a moment to step back and examine the exercise of power. We can choose to push back against what we know is wrong.

We must make a decision. Will we remain trapped in a cycle of manufactured outrage? Or will we find the courage to prioritize human connection and constitutional integrity over party loyalty?

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We have to answer this question with honesty:

Is this really what we want the United States to be?

• Do we really want a country where policy is decided by the wealthy?
• Where leaders are openly bribed for pardons and favors?
• Where we are the world’s bully instead of an ally?
• Where we are never truly safe because our government chooses to ignore our plight rather than institute meaningful reform?
• Where social media algorithms prioritize polarization over people, destroying families and dehumanizing our neighbors?
• Where partisanship has caused us to leave our morals behind so that our team doesn’t lose?

When the means no longer justify the ends, silence is a choice we can no longer afford. We must make it known that this isn’t who we are, nor is it who we want to be. And it’s not who we need to be.

This is our moment to reflect on our past – the positive AND the negative. It is also time to decide what we want our country to be like in the next 250 years. Will we truly stand up for liberty and justice for all? Or will we continue to elect leaders who give us permission to act on our inner fears and prejudices? Leaders who bring out the worst in us?

History cannot always be used to justify actions in the present. It should not be weaponized to excuse modern injustice. Just because it has been done by others doesn’t mean it’s good or right, no matter which party may have done it.

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This is a moment for Congress to remember the danger of conceding its constitutional power to the Executive. We need the weight of true checks and balances, not the hollow echo of unbreakable party loyalty. We need leaders who prioritize serving the citizens they represent. They must uphold the Constitution to which they swore allegiance above all else.

But it’s also up to us as citizens, individually. It all starts with us.

…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Do we want to be the beacon our founders envisioned?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…”¹

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.“

Do we want to live up to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty? “Give me your tired, your poor…”

Or the pledge we’ve all been asked to memorize, the one that ends with “Liberty and justice for all.”

These are not just quotes; they are the benchmarks we are now failing to meet both as a country (and as a people.)

We must face the reality that politicians on both sides have allowed partisanship to drive us apart. This is essential if we are going to last another 250 years as the United States of America as we have known it.

We must wrestle with the uncomfortable reality that we have been manipulated by those who profit from our division. We have forgotten that we are humans. We are neighbors. We are Americans. Our diversity is our greatest strength, not a reason for hate.

Hating those who are different from us is a dead end. We cannot allow our personal pain and experiences to justify vengeance or bullying by those leading us, or by us. If it’s not okay for their team to do it, it’s not okay for yours. If you wouldn’t want your children behaving that way, your leaders shouldn’t either—regardless of the letter after their name.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We need to be brave enough to hold our own ‘team’ to the same standards we demand of others.

And, we must believe and live as though it doesn’t have to be this way.

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If we want to see change as a nation, every one of us needs to make the same change. Internal conviction must become external action.

Do to others as you would like them to do to you.
Luke 6:31 (NLT)

We must treat each other better. If we wouldn’t want it done to us, why are we so willing to do it to them?

The way we speak to and about others, the way we act toward the least of these, and where we spend our money matter. Our words have weight, and those of our leaders even more. We cannot allow misbehavior from leaders to influence or justify our own misbehavior toward others.

When we allow labels and presumptions to replace humility and critical thinking, that’s where the trouble begins. You have been misled about the other party and those who belong to it. Asking “What if I’m wrong?” and being willing to learn and change is the essential first step to the unity so many of us desire.

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It doesn’t have to be this way—but it will stay this way until our desire for justice and liberty outweighs our desire to win. And I believe this moment in time will determine which direction the next 250 years take.

For Reflection:
If we want the next 250 years to look different, what is one action we can take in our local communities this week?

1. Important to note that the Founders’ view of the pursuit of happiness was the pursuit of virtue. https://constitutioncenter.org/essays/the-pursuit-of-happiness ↩︎