Commentary

Is the United States dead?

Or just sick?

Into a new day our history moves.

This is a question I ask myself constantly. Are the ideas this great nation was founded on beginning to crumble before our very eyes?

Note:

I want to take a moment right at the start to say this clearly: I‘m not after making anyone believe like me, or come to the same conclusions I’ve reached. Quite the opposite, in fact. I’m here to learn and to observe; to take in as much of this world as I can before I check out, bite the bullet, kick the bucket, or say my last farewell. Call me a flimsy version of Bran the Broken if you must.

All I’ve ever truly wanted, if it were even possible, is to understand everything and everyone before I go. I’m a hopeless romantic at heart; and though I may never reach that impossible goal, I’m either too dumb or too damn stubborn to quit. Even on my darkest days, when I see no light through the clouds, my heart still longs to learn more about this world. I do this to conquer myself; for me, that challenge is everything.

So carry on, my friend. Read what I write with this in mind: I won’t hate you. You can’t make me. I may carry anger in my tone at times, and that word might try its to float through the river of my mind, but I’ll be damned if I let it win.

Come one, come all. Tell me your stories; for I’ve already heard my own.

I’m not ready to throw it all away.

Now for the true beginning, as it were.

Regardless of the individuals who originally signed the Declaration of Independence and how they lived their lives, the ideas that created and formed this nation are as strong as time itself. Ideas are what I stand in support of, not necessarily the individuals. Though I acknowledge and respect the work it took from all our ancestors.

I have every bit of confidence that even if the United States were to fall tomorrow, the good people of the world would, over time, unite once again and create another version of government founded on similar principles.

Don’t worry though; a few hundred years from now, our descendants will talk about how awful we were, how the government was formed poorly, and how it should be dismantled and rebuilt because things have changed so much. That sort of mentality is inevitable.

I mean, let’s be honest: have you ever heard of any generation in the history of mankind that didn’t think they were more advanced and better than their ancestors? I can’t think of one. Maybe it exists, but I don’t know it.

There is wisdom in learning the past.

Sometimes it can be incredibly discouraging when you wake up every day and see the nation you love tearing itself apart.

One defining aspect of my own perspective is the fact that I’ve never felt that Republicans or Democrats were parties I could relate to or commit to fully.

As such, my views on government and policy reflect the same self-identity: I am an American.

I am a man, I am a dad, and I carry all the other obvious titles one receives by default. But the one identity I choose and believe in is that of an American. I’m not a nationalist, because I do believe global relations are incredibly important. To me nationalism is the societal equivalent of preferring incest over exogamy. As we know, gene pools need variation to grow stronger or even to survive. Nationalists want to shut that variation down, which would destroy us all in the long run.

I’m an American. Not a nationalist, not a Republican, not a Federalist, not a Democrat, not a Constitutionalist, not a Libertarian; an American.

Don’t let others tell you how to see yourself.

You want to know what I am first and foremost though? Well, friend, the same thing you are: a human.

I don’t have a self-identity that revolves around the idea that my group, my people, my family or even my ideas are superior in any way. My identity as an American, and as a human, comes from deep immersion in history and the study of governments across the span of human civilization.

My identity as a human isn’t a choice, and neither is yours. Anyone who denies that we share this one core trait is someone we should probably keep a very close eye on.

To be clear, I don’t mean “furries” or something here. I mean people who want you to believe someone else is less than them because of where they were born or who their family is.

I refuse to engage with such a mindset. We are only made greater, or less, by our own individual action. I’ll question those types of people further, fully aware of how dangerous they may be, but doing so with my only intention being to learn.

My agenda is understanding.

The roots are strong, regardless of some of the branches.

At the risk of drifting into a tangent, I want to point out that many dangerous mentalities exist in the world right now, and not all of them are conservative or liberal. That might not be popular to say, but I don’t care. I’m not saying that liberals are bad, or that conservatives are. As many of you know, I refuse to judge people as a group whenever possible. I prefer to judge individuals based on their merit and how they treat others.

As I said, I don’t want that to spiral into a longer tangent, so we’ll wrap it up there for now. Stay tuned for more on that later, I’m sure.

Though it often doesn't feel like it is, I do believe balance is possible.

So what’s the point of all this?

The point is to express to the people of the United States, and the world, that we don’t have to identify with increasingly smaller and extreme groups. We don’t have to keep dismantling relationships that took centuries to build.

We, as a people, can do better.

I like to say that I stand on the meridian: right in the middle, as an American and as a human. I make mistakes, and I am sure I’ll keep making them. But I truly believe that compromise and balance are key to reclaiming the dreams of our ancestors and protecting the future of our nations and our world. I want to know you for who you are, not for who some group says you should be.

Conversations don’t destroy nations, silence between people who don’t know each other is what does that.

If you don’t agree, I’m truly okay with that. I still want to hear from you, and I still want to understand your perspective better.

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day.

~K.R. Byers

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