Summer Reading

by Susan Lovenburg

One of the many things I love about summer vacation is the time it affords for leisure reading.  Throughout the year, juggling the demands of family and professional life make it challenging to read a newspaper, much less a book.   I crave opportunities to linger in bed in the morning with coffee and a good read, or divide my attention between a wonderful book and a great view from my Adirondack chair.  For me, it just doesn’t get much better than that, unless, of course, the kids are nearby engrossed in their own books.

Luckily, this summer’s vacation provided ample opportunity to indulge myself.  Though it was tempting to go for the latest Janet Evanovich (I admit it, I have read a few), this summer I wasn’t looking for escape, I was on a quest.

Like many Californians, I’ve spent much of the past year almost mesmerized by the dysfunction of our state government.  What should be a system of checks and balances has seemingly become a process at war with itself.  Personal agendas, special interests and political ideologies constantly trump civil discourse and good governance.  I suddenly felt the need to be convinced that this experiment called democracy is still a viable option.

So I went back to the beginning – at least the U.S. beginnings.  I read the Declaration of Independence; Common Sense by Thomas Paine; the Articles of Confederation; The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay; the Constitution; and Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis.

What did I find behind the inspiring thoughts and words of our founding documents?  Political infighting.  Passionate disagreement about process.  Ideological schisms that festered and became personal vendettas.  Grudges taken to the grave.  Today’s political machinations barely rival.  Though history tends to gloss over it, our country was born out of fiery disputes about independence from the motherland, confederation, states’ rights, and slavery.

But the founders were still able to define a nation.  How?  They understood the strength of unity.  When the country was on the verge of splintering, they hammered out accord – because the alternative was unacceptable.  They understood it is the things that unite us, not those that divide us, that make us strong.

Here’s the simple history lesson for me, then.  Statesmanship is attained through accord, not intransigence.    Until today’s ideological factions find a greater sense of purpose in unity than in division, we’ll continue to have a system at war with itself and a state increasingly in disarray.

We must each take personal responsibility for changing that.