Last night I wrote this thread about why America's founding ideals were actually incredible in that they serve as a guiding light toward progress, even when America is not living up to them. They are special bc they surpassed the limitations of their time & ppl who crafted them. https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1299193830739243008

Instead of focusing on the failures of the past, we should be focused on how we continue to make progress in living up to those ideals.

It's always easy to look at things in hindsight and with judgment without recognizing what guided change.

You don't even have to go back to the founding. In 2008, Barack Obama ran against SSM. Most Americans opposed it. Now a decade later overwhelming majority support it.

Does that mean that Obama and Americans were evil in 2008? No, it means a convincing case was made for change.

It way that changed happened was in people appealing to those founding principles in arguing that SSM is necessitated by them. Now some might disagree with that conclusion, but the point is that those principles are a guiding light. They drive progress & we should embrace them.

Another ex for me is abortion. IMO elective late-term abortions will one-day be viewed as a horrendous/evil practice that contradicts the belief enshrined in those founding ideals that human lives have value. My goal is not to assume others are evil, but to convince them of that.

Those seeking to reject those ideals aren't driving progress, they are undermining it. They are rejecting the very principles that led Americans to reject racism, segregation, bigotry, and inequality.