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The Opinions
America Was Defined by a Story. It’s Time for a New One.
00:10:36
In a new series, David Leonhardt asks leading thinkers and politicians: What’s next.
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- [00:00]
Ad Council Narrator
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- [00:29]
Podcast Host
This is the Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times Opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it.
- [00:43]
David Leonhardt
I'm David Leonhart, and I'm an editorial director in New York Times Opinion. Today, the Opinions podcast is starting something new. It's a series about our national story, the American Story. Right now, we're obviously living through a pretty dark story. Americans are polarized and they're frustrated sometimes with good reason. But we're not going to get out of this rut without a different story that can rally people to something new. That's what this series will examine. In the coming episodes, we'll talk to historians, writers, and policymakers to think about what that new story can be. You know, I like the word determination. We've got to make this country work better for working families. We need to open the window on big, bold changes, even if people aren't prepared for that yet. Before we look to the future, we. We want to look back to the nation's very first story and where it came from. Wow. I mean, it's gorgeous. I'm standing inside the Jefferson memorial in Washington, D.C. and just as you walk inside the memorial, there is a quote. The letters are huge. They're each about three feet tall, I think, and they wrap around the inside of the memorial's famous dome, and they loom over this massive statue of Jefferson. We're with the New York Times, and we're recording a podcast about America's story. And so can I ask you to read that quote on the wall?
- [02:34]
Podcast Host
You want me to read it?
- [02:35]
David Leonhardt
Yes, why not? Let me catch my breath. Start with I have sworn. Okay, here we go.
- [02:42]
Quote Reader
I have sworn upon the altar of.
- [02:45]
David Leonhardt
God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. The quotation comes from a letter that Jefferson wrote to his friend Benjamin Rush. Let me read the quote again. I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. That line reflects the principles of the Enlightenment, which had started in the late 1600s. Enlightenment thinkers believed that reason and science should prevail over brute political force, which was a radical idea when it first began to spread. But during the 1700s, more philosophers and writers began to make the case for reason and for human autonomy. These were the ideas that animated the people, like Jefferson, who started the American revolution and became this nation's founders. Of course, there were some shameful exceptions to the founders Enlightenment thinking, including their treatment of native people and their support for slavery. In Jefferson's case, this included his enslavement of other human beings. That will always be a deserved stain on his legacy and the legacy of the other founders. Still, the founding of this country did embody Enlightenment thinking in ways that no previous event had, even if it didn't always live up to that thinking. The founders called for religious freedom. They said that a government had no legitimacy if it oppressed its own citizens. Before the American Revolution, no other country had been founded on these ideas. After the Revolution, many other countries would be. When you visit this memorial and you think about our country's history, you realize something. America was founded on a story. Other nations have their roots as ethnic enclaves or as places for people of a certain religion, not America. It began as a story that Enlightenment thinkers started telling in the 1600s, and the founders then told themselves and to the world, they risked their lives for it. That story, with all its beauty and, yes, its terrible contradictions, has remained part of our national fabric. It's been the foundation for the American stories that have followed. Every important social and political movement has told a story. The abolitionists did. So did the progressives and the Whigs, the suffragists and the civil rights marchers, the advocates for disability rights and for marriage equality. Stories have been especially important when the country found itself in a crisis. They've enabled America to emerge from that crisis and to find a new path. Just think about the central figures of American history. Think of the story that Franklin D. Roosevelt told when the country found itself first in a depression and then in an existential war. He spoke of both security and freedoms, freedom from want. And the voters elected him four times.
- [05:49]
Quote Reader
Which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants.
- [05:58]
David Leonhardt
Or think of Ronald Reagan, who won the presidency during a time of national malaise by telling a story about confidence and strength and his own version of freedom.
- [06:08]
Quote Reader
The American people said, let us look to the future with confidence, both at home and abroad. Let us give freedom a chance.
- [06:18]
David Leonhardt
More recently, think of Barack Obama, who told an exciting story about hope and change.
- [06:25]
Quote Reader
That's what's happening in America right Now, change is what's happening in America.
- [06:33]
David Leonhardt
Whatever you think of these presidents policies, they were able to enact those policies because of their success at telling the country a story. And then came Donald Trump, who has now dominated American politics for more than a decade.
- [06:53]
Quote Reader
I am with you. I will fight for you, and I will win for you.
- [07:03]
David Leonhardt
You may be alarmed by President Trump's policies and behavior. I certainly am. But it is vital to recognize that his political success depends on the story that he has told the country. A story about stagnation, unfairness, and lost greatness. A story about globalization and about elites and outsiders whom he blames for our problems.
- [07:26]
Quote Reader
We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again. God bless you and good night. I love you.
- [07:53]
David Leonhardt
That story first won over Republican primary voters in 2016 with shocking speed. Then it won over large numbers of working class white voters who had previously voted Democratic, including for Barack Obama. In the last few years, Trump has won over growing numbers of Latino, Asian, and black voters. But here's something important to remember. America will eventually move on to a new story. We always do. Trump will leave office. Really, he will. He is already in his second term, even if it doesn't always feel that way. And so it's time to start thinking about what post Trump politics will be. It's time to start talking about what America's next story will be. I understand that many Americans across the political spectrum have become pessimistic about this country. Some go as far as to say that they've lost hope. I want to persuade you that that is a mistake. America has overcome terrible injustices, gaping societal divisions and dysfunctional political leaders before, but it has always done so by imagining how the future can be different and then forging that future. No, we are not guaranteed to do so again, but we can do so. And if we don't try, we are guaranteed to fail. As part of this project, my colleagues and I want to hear from you. What do you think America's next story should be? Tell us. Record a voice memo on your phone and send it to the opinionsytimes.com that's the opinions with an S at the end@nytimes.com.
- [10:04]
Podcast Host
If you like this show, follow it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Opinions is produced by Derek Arthur Vishaka Darba, Christina Samulewski and Gillian Weinberger. It's edited by Kari Pitkin and Alison Bruzek. Engineering, mixing and original music by Isaac Jones, sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Sabaro and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Aman Sahota. The Fact Check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary, Marge Locker and Michelle Harris. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Christina Samulewski. The director of Time's Opinion audio is Annie Rose Strasser.
- [10:48]
David Leonhardt
Sam.