America is not one nation. Since the days of our Founding Fathers there have always been multiple conceptions of what this nation should be.
| Thomas Jefferson believed that the nation should be primarily agrarian, with most of the power residing with the states, and a smaller federal government | His political rival was Alexander Hamilton, who believed that the nation should have a centralized federal government which had the power to impose laws that could not be superseded |
One can see the remnants of these two political philosophies in today’s current political parties. The Republicans being similar to Jefferson, believing that the federal government should be small; and the Democrats being similar to Hamilton and believing in a larger federal government with a large number of programs to promote the social welfare of the nation’s citizens.
The nation’s foreign policy has divided the definition of what America is to people both foreign and domestic. The images that follow represent two of the most controversial foreign engagements the United States has been involved in. The pictures, for the most part, represent domestic opinion in this nation, as well as the images the world had access to.
Beyond these images, and the conflicts they represent are the truths about our nation. While our nation can be a place of great opportunity those opportunities have had to be fought for…
Despite the example of our worst nature, the angels of our better nature move us forward, from legalized racial segregation to a more perfect union. While we are not perfect yet, nor probably ever will be, there is a responsibility we hold as citizens of this planet we call Earth – to make the world a better place for our fellow men and women, before we are to consider ourselves.
Here is an example of a result of our better angels working in this nation. Can we make a more perfect union? I’ll let these pictures speak for me.
