On our nation’s 248th birthday

By Emily Walters

I was born on the Fourth of July. This is a pure coincidence that I have nevertheless always taken very seriously. I harbor a deep sense of old-fashioned patriotism; stirring renditions of our National Anthem never fail to bring me to tears. I devour political speeches with the same fervor that others reserve for juicy gossip. And phrases like “Give me liberty, or give me death!” still send a shiver down my spine.

The ecstatic patriotism of my childhood has cooled and matured with time and experience. What is it about America which makes it so special? Why this nation, above any other?

The enduring beauty of America, for me, lies in its foundation on ideas. From its inception, it recognized its own imperfections, and in doing so planted the seeds of its perfectibility. What greater aspiration could a nation have than to continuously strive to bend its moral arc toward justice?

I am neither an attorney nor a philosopher. My undergraduate degree is in mathematics, and so it is through this lens that I view the world. Mathematics taught me how to use the rigorous application of logic to arrive at universal truths via constructions called “proofs.” It is with this lens that I view the opening line of the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I recognize this type of statement from mathematics. This is an axiom.

Every proof starts with a statement of assumptions, the fundamentals. In the Declaration of Independence, the Founders also placed their most important idea first: the equality of all persons before the law. Latin has a term for this: Sine qua non, or “Without this, nothing.” Without equality before the law, we have no law. “Government of the people, by the people, for the people,” requires that justice applies to all persons equality, in the same amount, without exception.

After the Civil War, we as a people decided to make this concept more explicit with the passage of the 14th Amendment, which includes the Equal Protection Clause. The relevant part reads: "nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Any person. Another lesson from mathematics: for two things to be equal, neither of them can be more or less than the other.

This week’s Supreme Court ruling, which grants presidents immunity from the law, is an abomination. History teaches us that the descent from democracy into totalitarianism requires the destruction of the rule of law. If a state is answerable to the law, then it cannot achieve total power. For context, consider the Enabling Act of 1933 in Nazi Germany, or the Italian Fascist motto: “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State."

Even weaponizing the law is not worse than immunity from the law. Weaponizing the law still concedes the supremacy of law, still allows for a nation of laws. What happened in our Supreme Court is far worse.

Like many of you, I have spent much of Monday in despair. The nation I went to bed in that day is not the nation I woke up in. I have cried, I have caught my breath in horror, I have been sickened by the assault on the fabric of our nation.

I have to believe, however, that this despair is a tool of the enemy. We cannot give in to it. We must not.

If America can be born once, it can be born again. If it can be so fundamentally changed, I must believe that it can be changed back.

I do not know exactly how, yet. I will continue to support our president, and I will continue to work for the defeat of Donald Trump. I will get “comfortable with being uncomfortable,” and I will give generously of my time, talent, and treasure. I am sure there is more that can be done, and invite you to share your ideas with us.

The last time I felt this way was in November of 2016. But we mourned, we came together, we didn’t give up, and we held back the darkness for a little while. Hope gets us through times like these. The only hope I have to offer you is also the best hope I have to offer: our hope in each other. 

Friends, mourn. Weep for our country. And then wipe your tears and join us as we roll up our sleeves and get to work.