An American Reflection ...

The American system of government, instituted after the uprising of 1776, was not the invention of the founding fathers, however noble their objectives. It was, in fact, a French invention – the intellectual property of Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu^[a](18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755). The American genius is how they translated Montesquieu’s intellectual proposition of the separation of powers into a sustainable and uniquely effective means of governance. More exceptional, considering the times, is the bold claim “we hold these truths to be self-evident …”. It has, perhaps, no equal in its simple yet profoundly elegant expression of the basic truths of the human condition and its aspirations.  All this aside, I would argue that the mark of a great nation, a great democracy, must surely be its fundamental lasting commitment to its core values and ideals and its ability to maintain and protect them from corruption and debasement. I look at the United States today and I see nothing to celebrate, nothing that offers reasonable hope that the unbelievable rot has not touched the heart of the nation in a way that defies recovery.