Heather Cox Richardson

So there is that for sure.

But I want to be careful to say that, you know, if you look at what Donald Trump and the radical right is doing now is trying to reach back for a past that was perfect.

And that's an authoritarian and even a fascist move.

The idea that somehow there was a perfect past back there.

And I always like to say when.

Yeah, like the date.

Was it February 2nd, like 1954?

Because there is no perfect past, but there is also no exclusively negative past because humans are gonna human.

That's what we do.

And what I love about America is that I think the story of America is the struggle of people who have not been included in the promise of America to expand that,

those principles to include more people.

So if you think about democracy as being a process rather than a place or a time that there was a certain kind of achievement, you recognize that what Americans have done to each other and to others is horrific in our past.

We have done horrible things.

But other Americans have stepped in to try and mitigate that trouble and to move the ball forward.

And that is as important a story, I think, as the horrors.

And one of the things that I really hope that we can reclaim is...

A recognition of the clear view of our past, both of the horrors of it, and yet also those people who have said, we as human beings don't have to live like this, and we're going to make the situation better.

Because the, you know, and I'm having, obviously I'm a big fan of the Declaration because it establishes the foundation of American democracy, even though the country was not a democracy at the time.

The idea that you must be treated equally before the law, have a right to equal access to resources, and to have a right to have a senior government, that's what a democracy is, right?

So that is crucially important.