Is ours a great nation?

Having been brought up in the United States, under a democratic form of government, I believe that the ideals that were agreed upon in our founding documents are and were desirable and valuable. Those ideals were not initially available to women or minorities, or indeed, the people who originally lived here before Europeans arrived. Nor were they available to slaves brought to the new world. Still, there have been advances as well as setbacks in the Civil Rights struggles over the decades. The rights of women in the voting booth only go back a century.

I often think that our country would be even greater if all of our history could be taught, mistakes admitted and understood. The history of our people is the story of many peoples who came here for better opportunities and often had success. Racism is clearly an ongoing problem and could be dealt with if our past sins and shortcomings were out in the open. The move by some states to disallow black and minority studies does not bode well for our future.

It would seems that a great country or nation would be one in which individuals would have equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The things that diminish us are the efforts to limit access to the ballot box, economic inequality, poor schools. I recall President Obama’s farewell address saying that for every two steps forward, we seem to take one step back.

— Oxnard15