WHEN JESSE RAN
When Jesse ran, I was still idealistic.
I believed in the integrity of our country. Not as a campaign slogan, not a sales tactic. I believed it was a living promise.
I believed in the words of our founding documents: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. That all men are created equal, not as lofty words but as our country’s calling, our destiny.
I believed the United States could right its wrongs. That our failures were growing pains. That we persevered through them with those founding words in our ears. That we strove to overcome the forces that would ignore those wrongs. That our history bent, however slowly, toward justice.
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When Jesse ran, I believed we were recovering. We had realigned economically and could now emerge stronger from the cultural and political earthquakes of the 60's and 70's. I believed we had wrestled with ourselves and chosen meaning over materialism, conscience over consumption. That our losses were worth the lessons they taught.
I believed we were remembering our roots and the very essence of who we were meant to be.
When Jesse ran, I felt hope stir again. The election of Jimmy Carter had seemed proof that decency mattered, that humility and ethics still counted. It felt as if the values “we the people” claimed to cherish were not hollow after all.
When Jesse ran, I believed we were choosing unity over greed. That economics was not our god. That we might still be a nation capable of moral courage and lighting the way.
When Jesse ran, I believed we had entered a new era.
I was young.
I was naïve.
