To the Editor of the INDEPENDENT STATESMAN:

            I’ve yet to feel a stronger sense of pride than when I recognize the fact that in the United States, each and every one of us is responsible for building a republic. Our Sacred Fire of Liberty is nothing more than a dim lantern carrying a wisp of soul through the cold, lifeless night: a glimmering beacon of hope for a world all too often fraught with rulers who would rather consolidate power for their own benefit than acknowledge that We the People can handle our own affairs. Independent statesmen are stewards of this flame. They captivate the minds of men through their decorum in the pursuit of public good; they teach us that the lantern will be extinguished and the world cast into darkness as soon as one generation decides that the duty of tending to it is not their own; they guide the flame to my hand, and I solemnly keep the fate of the republic in my grasp. My letters are a rallying cry for the American spirit; they serve only to inspire.

            Tracing our bloodlines back to the dawn of recorded history almost certainly takes us through the lives of numerous subjects in realms ruled by privileged elite, crowned sovereigns, theocratic monarchs, and despots: lives wrongfully dictated by others and enforced with an iron fist that turns any noble embers into sullen ash. To those of us in the United States reading this today: we are born free. There was a group of men nearly 250 years ago who struck flint against that repressive fist and ignited a roaring blaze, sowing the seeds of liberty across an entire continent and spreading freedom like wildfire; it would be a shame for us to apply less of our energy and zeal to preserving the Union than the Founding Fathers did when they created it. That’s how it dies. They designed an intricate system of checks and balances across three coequal branches of government that allows for us to write, execute, and interpret our own supreme laws of the land: a mechanical web of axles and gears whose cranks are turned by their immortal souls, transforming popular opinion into sound policy. Operating, maintaining, and improving this divine machine is a monumental feat requiring a great deal of consideration and judgement. Any citizen up for the task of keeping the republic must continuously develop and employ the most masterful skill of knowing which levers to pull, and which to not, in order to keep our country intact: this is how we make enlightened statesmen out of inanimate gears.

            Contrary to the regimes of old, where the ruling class came about primarily from hereditary lineage, we govern ourselves through a representative democracy: from our own lot we delegate public servants to act on our behalf in the administration of the laws; they are conduits of our volition. We the People are the ruling class. I can think of no greater privilege, no greater honor, than to use the strength of my will and the temperance of my character to solve my country’s largest and most existential problems in the humble capacity of a lone citizen; I can think of no fault more severe than to retreat to a private life and assert that the people we elected will solve these problems without our involvement. If that is the case, no one rules. Though they may have discretion, the decisions our elected officials make are largely determined by their constituents’ desires, disseminated through the free and unrestricted expression of ideas: every thought brought into the world through writing or discourse in part influences our representatives. Every word uttered is of the utmost importance. It’s my sincerest hope that a wise American electorate, demanding of ourselves dignity and poise in civic discourse, encourages members of our national government to do the same, so that only the truly great ideas produced from the citizen’s mind are engraved in our code of law.

             What a liberating ideal! Every man a statesman. As citizens of a republic, we cannot expect our holders of public office to govern so that we don’t have to; for virtue comes from the community, and only in aristocracies, monarchies, and despotic regimes do we pin the responsibility of statecraft on others and assume that we do not and need not possess the qualities of a good and just ruler. In fact, this is the foremost requirement of democratic citizenship. Liberty is indeed a fleeting right, bestowed on us by the Founding Fathers and easily lost if taken for granted: their discussions in the public sphere, including in the press, encompassed concepts historically reserved only for a select few, and they paved the way for Americans to forge an empire of reason; the freedom for all to govern implies the need for all to learn how to govern in order to retain this blessing. The teachings of Alexander the Great’s tutor are housed in city libraries across the country, up for grabs. Should the proven curriculum of rulers, unaltered for thousands of years, collect dust inside the walls of our republic, we alone will have put out our own precious flame; this moral obligation is not enforced, and the prosperity or demise of the United States is the result of our own free choice.

            The Fathers have passed this flame onto us; it is ours now, and if I need to pound my chest in order to compel my brothers to rise to the call of duty, then so be it. We will light their lantern with the unwavering fire of the American mind. We will use the Star-Spangled Banner to enrobe civilizations near and far in dreams of freedom. Neither ancient bloodline nor orb and sceptre wrote the oldest living codified constitution; that was done by independent statesmen. This document is proof that the collective thinking of everyday citizens who have taken it upon themselves to learn the work of kings can produce a state that outshines all others, and if it dies so too does the vision of a brighter future for all; defending the constitution is defending the republic. We will unleash ideas that elevate the character of the American citizen. We will use the power of free expression to challenge lawmakers to match our eloquence and our excellence. And we will not rest until our Stars and Stripes and our Sacred Fire are secured for every subsequent generation, manifest destiny has spread the attributes of the philosopher-king to every citizen-ruler in the United States, and our enlightened empire forever remains the envy of the world.

MARCUS TULLIUS