A Reflection on The Election

And What is Your Spirit Animal?

Anyone who has spent enough time around me has heard these all-important questions. “What is your spirit animal and why?” (A sloth —three-toed of course—because they appear at first look to be somewhat slow and boring, but look deeper and they are fascinating) and “If you could be any other animal, what would it be and why?” (A Black Bear because they’re smart, funny, love honey, sleep 1/3 of the year, and are tough but not savage like the Grizzly).

Another less important question I like to ask—”If you were king for a day, what is one change you would make for the country?” My answer: a constitutional amendment that granted equal rights to all members of society, but full citizenship—which came with the right to hold public office and vote— granted only to those that served in the government. Some may recognize this from Starship Troopers.

For those only familiar with the 90s era giant bugs, infamous shower scene, and spectacular death acting of Dina Flores, the film “Starship Troopers” was based on a 1959 novel of the same name. I had not known this until a grizzled old Navy man once told me to read it because it “is the best book on citizenship there is.” It is a short read, and I recommend everyone read it. Laced within its plot line of a war on bugs using thermo-nuclear weapons, the meat of the book comes through Heinlein’s in-depth discussions and musings on citizenship. The book is rife with great quotes, chief among them:

“Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional conviction that the whole is greater than the part...and that the part should be humbly proud to sacrifice itself that the whole may live.”

In Heinlein’s universe, in order to earn your citizenship, you have to serve in the government. The idea being: those who choose “service” demonstrate the selflessness required of someone in office or when voting. For a variety of reasons, the Heinlein rule will never be formally instituted in the United States, but this is a good thing. It would go against the republican ideals that our country was founded on. Active citizenship through service is a duty to our peers and our nation, but it should not and cannot be compelled. Below, see two of the founding fathers’ thoughts.

“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives. We ought to do all we can.”

-John Adams

"A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society."

-Thomas Jefferson

Although, this begs the question, what do active citizenship and service actually look like? What are our obligations? What are we personally responsible to do for our society? Heinlein believed it required a term of service to the government, typically through the military. I think it is simpler than that. Teddy Roosevelt wrote:

No man can be a good citizen who is not a good husband and good father, who is not honest in its dealings with other men and women, loyal to his friends and fearless in the presence of his enemies, who has not had a sound heart, a healthy mind and a healthy body…

The results of the recent election were dramatic and have many people distraught and many people hopeful. It is time we reclaim our society from the hullabaloo of the news cycle and the drama of our current leaders. In a country of 330 million people of countless different religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds, the political consensus will always be changing back and forth.

Rather than focusing on the ways our government and leaders are or are not failing us, let’s turn our focus to how we can earn our citizenship. How do we do that? We strive to demonstrate Roosevelt’s described goodness, honesty, loyalty, and fearlessness. We work to improve the soundness of our hearts, minds, and body.

Consider the power of an entire nation committed to these ideals. In the famous Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln, in attempting to honor the over 3100 dead Union soldiers, charged us with exactly this. In his words:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

In 1863, the unfinished work was the reunification of the nation and eventually the abolishment of slavery. Several hundred thousand Americans gave their lives in the name of the same simple ideals Roosevelt named a half century later. In 2024, the unfinished work is the continued selflessness to make tomorrow a little bit better than today. It requires the same devotion of us—that we strive to earn our citizenship through goodness, honesty, loyalty, and fearlessness.

We strive to be good neighbors, and we strive to be good parents.

We seek the truth and deal in honesty.

We remain loyal to our friends and communities, even if that means sharing hard truths with them.

We face our daily challenges with courage.

In the coming weeks, I will highlight stories of people that are earning their citizenship in powerful ways that I hope will serve as inspiration. We don’t all have to be Roughneck mobile light infantry torching giant bugs with H-Bombs to earn our citizenship.

One Last Thing

My spirit animal is the sloth. What’s yours? It’s probably not as cool as this fella is.