The history of America is, in essence, one long search for the “more perfect Union” promised in the preamble to our Constitution—which was drafted in response to our first failure at a representative government, the Articles of Confederation. Almost every endeavor, every policy, every philosophy, every priority, and every law we have pursued, followed, or enacted for the past 250 years has been a thread of our elusive quest to weave together a nation that values justice, empowers people, and restricts the scope of government. Our country’s track record of successes and failures leans very heavily toward the positive over the breadth of our history, but we can also point to plenty of shortfalls and disasters that have taught us painful lessons about our fallibility and foolishness. Perhaps because we have never given up hope that we can one day Read more