Jon Meacham: ‘The American Citizenry Is on the Ballot’

EXCERPT:

MEACHAM: "We are on trial. Donald Trump is not the only person on the ballot. We are. The American citizenry is on the ballot. All the lines that come to mind, right, all the steak frite of American patriotic conversation, a republic if you can keep it. Washington said in the farewell address, a republic cannot endure in the absence of religious and moral principle. It is not just about the letter of the law. It is about the spirit of the law. And enough of us, and this is precedented, enough of us have to decide that we’re willing to lose a round in order to keep a larger experiment going. And the good news there is that for a quarter of a millennium, we were willing to do that. That doesn’t mean we will do it going forward, but it does mean that we have the evidence of the ages on our side. My view is that history should not be comforting in this moment, right? This is not Dorky Zoloft, but it can be inspiring."