"E pluribus unum"

[baldguy]

The geniuses of the Enlightenment who founded the United States chose that as our official motto. It was explicitly meant to bring together the dispirit former colonies who thought of themselves as individual fledgling independent states than as part of a single unified nation. They realized that they could not let the King and his political allies be able to play one colony off another to the determent of all. They had to unite with one voice if they wished to accomplish their goal.

"Out of many, one."

It is one of the basic American ideals. As it was for the colonies, so it is also for their citizens. If your house burns down, your neighbors will help you rebuild. If a neighborhood is devastated by a natural disaster, the cities, towns & villages around it will chip in to help clean up and rebuild. If a states recourses are exhausted, then the entire country will help out. That's what makes a community, a state and a nation strong.

"United we stand, divided we fall."

Beginning in the 1930's - after the devastating effects wrought by Republican economic policies that created the Great Depression - we began instituting new Democratic policies which would alleviate the more unfortunate effects of market forces. These programs are based on the assumption that your quality of life is affected by the disposition of your neighbor. No matter how rich you are, no matter how much you insulate yourself from the unwashed masses, no matter how much you disdain interacting with your fellow man - you are still a part of society. Conversely, no matter how poor you are, no matter how dispossessed or abandoned you feel, you are not truly alone.

"Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you do to me."

Americans learned this hard lesson during the Revolution, and again with the Civil War. We learned to extend the idea during World War II and its aftermath with the United Nations and the Cold War. The American fascists in power now have actively sought to deny this basic American value and to eliminate it form the American consciousness.

But this is not a new concept its as old as humanity. Jesus understood it. The Greeks and Romans understood it. Our Founders learned from their predecessors and applied that knowledge when they created their new nation. The reason they will ultimately fail is that it is also a human value.

"We're all in this together."

[TexasProgresive]

1. If we don't hang together we shall

all be hung together.

[journalist3072]

3. BUMP! I agree!

[TexasProgresive]

4. I think I misquoted- It's

If we don't all hang together we shall all hang separately.

[journalist3072]

2. Great post, and you're absolutely right!

I don't think that the Republicans, as a whole, understand the concept of "out of many, one." They don't get that we are all in this together.

Remember back in 1996, during the Republican Convention, Bob Dole said in his acceptance speech "It doesn't take a village. It takes a family." I'm like you just don't get it, do you?

I loved how, weeks later at the 1996 Democratic Convention, Hillary Clinton said in her speech "And we have learned that to raise a happy, healthy, and hopeful child, it takes a family. It takes teachers. It takes clergy. It takes business people. It takes community leaders. It takes those who protect our health and safety. It takes all of us. Yes, it takes a village. And it takes a president."

I thought that was an outstanding response to Bob Dole.