We all have a dream

The events of the last week have put American intolerance in the spotlight. But this is nothing new. Contrary to what we like to believe about America, we have always been intolerant. The objects of our disdain and cruelty have changed over the years, but someone has always borne the brunt. Even when this is talked about these days, it is glossed over and people seem to believe it wasn't as bad in the past. It was.
We should not be surprised, and certainly not discouraged by this. Not only was America populated by mere mortals, often they were uneducated, hard living mortals. They had no room for high flung ideals in their hand to mouth existence. Lady Liberty's inscription talks about the wretched refuse and some took us seriously.
But we did have our ideals - the ones mentioned in our Declaration of Independence. At the time, these were the real revolution, not the war. No one else came even close to them.  This is what the modern left overlooks in its dissatisfaction with America. Yes, we fail every day in living up to those ideals, but we still have them and we still revere them. This in itself is something to celebrate.
The right, on the other hand, seems to think having ideals is all we need to do and that is wrong too. They don't mean much if we don't try to live up to them, no matter how often we fail.
We are no longer the only country that has the ideals of democracy, justice and equality, but that doesn't mean we can let them slip to the back of our minds. The Cold War is over, but our biggest rival in the world is still authoritarian, with little respect for human rights and freedom. If the free world falters, the power hungry will always be there to pick up the slack.
We need everyone to do whatever we can to preserve the American ideals. The left can't despair and the right can't get complacent. We all have to do our best.