“ . . . with liberty and justice for all,” children recite each morning. Isn’t this the common ground upon which everyone can stand? Many distressed by the today’s political climate urge Americans to remember what binds us together and these principles are surely it.
The history of liberty and justice has never been an easy one. Revolutionary Patriots got their freedom, but there was little justice for Loyalists who had their property confiscated. Black Americans waited a long time for justice to be done, as did women and American Indians.
Capitalists have had their freedom while for the average working person, for the average working person justice didn’t arrive until the second half of the 20th century. And to this day, many suffer injustices that are hangovers from an unjust past and from a present in which justice still hasn’t been done.
