Editor’s note: Emily Krauss, a Pleasant Hill High School student, is the state winner of the Voice of Democracy contest, held annually through the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Krauss came in 10th in the national competition. The Voice of Democracy program is a scholarship program by Veterans of Foreign Wars where 25,000 high school students compete for over $1 million in scholarships nationally. This year’s theme was “Is America Today Our Forefathers’ Vision?”
By Emily Krauss – Pleasant Hill High School
If our forefathers somehow appeared in our country today- powdered wigs and all, what would they think?
Well, first, they might have a heart attack seeing someone make a phone call or drive a car- but if they saw the towering cities or took a walk through Congress, would they be proud of what they saw- the diversity in our government, and the way we have upheld the democratic systems they worked so hard to build?
Or rather, if they stopped to listen to the political conversation- would the response be one of resounding disappointment?
After all, our forefathers warned us explicitly against what they called factions- or what we would today call political parties. John Adams even said at the founding of the republic “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
It’s no secret that in the past few decades America has been experiencing political polarization at a rapid rate as our two-party system moves further and further apart.
People have begun to drift away from each other ideologically, decreasing their ability to compromise on issues. From just 2023 to 2024 alone, a study found that in the public’s opinion, the amount of common ground on policies- or ability for either side to reach an understanding, had gone down by over 16 percent.
While American history may be rich with tales of different political parties—from the Federalists and Antifederalists to today’s Democrats and Republicans—it doesn’t mean this separation is normal. Polarization may be easiest to see in our central bodies of government, where opinions can be the loudest and the most influential, but the majority of Americans sit somewhere in the middle. These people are more often than not politically unengaged, therefore allowing those with the strongest opinions to run our country.
To be fair, America has never been a perfect union – in fact, some may say it’s always been deeply and fundamentally flawed. They wouldn’t be entirely wrong. From the time of our founding, it has been a constant uphill battle to extend rights to citizens and adjust to changing times.
Our forefathers knew our country was going to expand, and technologies would grow with it. So, they left a set of foundational documents to outline our governmental systems and, more importantly, the ways to change them.
The Bill of Rights is one of these documents, containing the first amendments to our constitution in 1791, ensuring that the government couldn’t take over the rights of individual citizens. But the truth of the matter is at the founding of our country,
I wouldn’t have been able to vote- or even own property. In fact, a very small percentage of today’s citizens would have been allowed to exercise the rights supposedly allocated to them in the Constitution.
That’s why people have spent the last 200 years working to change our laws- so the government can protect all the people of this country. This isn’t to say we have somehow found perfect equality- there is always more work to be done. However, the progress that’s been made has allowed us to grow- which is important; change doesn’t happen overnight.
As former First Lady Michelle Obama said, “We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient.”
While America may not be perfect, I choose to believe our forefathers would have been proud of where we are today. While our politics may be more divisive – we haven’t passed the point of no return. I think they would have chosen to focus on the good parts – how basic rights have been extended to people all over the country, increasing freedom and quality of life.
But most of all, I think they would be proud of America’s resilience. Through all these years, we have continued forward with the same passion and desire to better ourselves.
That is the true American vision.
