Remember the promise of America

There are three documents I keep on my end table, along with a Bible, so that I have them handy to read. In our current times of a president and his administration trying to overturn our democracy I often refer to them.

The first is the Declaration of Independence, with the sentence that states “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The “just” powers come from consent of the governed. The second is the Constitution, which begins “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union.” We are a government of all the people and we aren’t perfect, but we aim to get better. And the third is the Gettysburg Address. It is the best expression of the vision for America. I recommend reading it, as well as the other two documents. A good place to read the Gettysburg Address is on a plaque near the entrance to Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, where you can contemplate the graves of many veterans who gave their life for the vision of America expressed in these documents.

I suggest we all read and contemplate these documents as we approach our 250 years as a country and remember the promise of America.

Ken Abreu

San Mateo