Today is a great day for America.
Not because this editorial board or anyone else has declared it to be so, but because history shows it to be the case.
America’s democratic experiment is not even 250 years old. Self-governance, the act of a people choosing leaders from among themselves, has been a rare thing over the course of human history. It may feel inevitable, but American democracy is the exception, not the rule.
We demonstrate that exceptionalism, not just through bold action or sweeping change, but through an adherence to tradition that borders on the mundane. Such tradition was on display Monday at the U.S. Capitol, when a new commander in chief was sworn into office during a peaceful and orderly transition of power.
Vanquished political opponents and predecessors stood and applauded as Donald Trump returned to the presidency. As they should have. The will of the American people, strong but certainly not unanimous, has been recognized by the electoral victor and loser alike. That is no small thing, in the course of human history or in light of recent U.S. history, when Trump himself refused to accept his 2020 loss and did not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021.
Thankfully, that particular bit of history has not repeated itself. President Donald Trump was chosen to lead the American people once again, and he returns to the highest office in the land without a fight over the legitimacy of those results. There will be contentious debates over policy to come, surely and necessarily. But at the very least, we have returned to America’s tradition of a peaceful transfer of power. That makes today a great day for this country, and one worth celebrating.
Whether it will be a great four years for America, and for all Americans, is a different question. We hope and pray that it will be.
Trump promised in his inaugural address on Monday to usher in a new “golden age” for America. We wish him luck in that worthy aim, as long as that means a golden age for everyone, not just a select few.
His actions in the next four years, and the actions of Congress and the judicial branch, will help determine whether that greatness is in store for all Americans. In his remarks, Trump appropriately lauded the importance of freedoms, liberties and equal justice under the law. But those invaluable principles must actually apply to everyone — including the most disadvantaged and unfairly maligned people in our society.
As we wrote about over the weekend, there is a very real and legitimate fear that this country will backslide on civil rights in the next four years under the Trump administration. Early executive action, like Trump declaring that it will be official U.S. policy that there are only two genders, only lend more credence to those fears.
We’re fully on board with American greatness, but that worthy pursuit needs to be grounded in reality and awareness of the actual impediments facing this country. American greatness isn’t being held back by the gender spectrum, and we think it is both a waste of time and an affront to personal liberties to pretend otherwise.
We do not make America greater by renaming a body of water after ourselves, but by ensuring that Americans have consistent access to clean water. We do not make America greater by insisting that there are only two genders, but by agreeing that the government doesn’t have the right to define — or erase — who people are.
Trump spoke Monday about his desire to be a peacemaker and a unifier. The successful pressure he helped interject into the cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas shows that he can be effective and productive in that role. But he also needs to be a peacemaker for the American people here at home, to help us navigate our differences rather than weaponize them.
In what appeared to be an impromptu speech to supporters in an overflow area of the Capitol after his swearing-in, Trump reiterated many of his grievances and lies about the 2020 election and the House panel that investigated the events of Jan. 6, 2021. We hope he can turn the page on this kind of divisiveness.
We do not make America greater by elevating an exclusive version of unity over individual rights and freedoms. A new American golden age would be wonderful, and we wish President Trump success in his efforts to secure it, but not at the expense of our fellow Americans. A great day for America should not become a miserable four years for personal liberty.
