Krystal ’29 shares the group’s visit to the Heritage Foundation to talk with Ms. Brenda Hafera, Assistant Director and Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation’s Simon Center for American Studies. She wrote in The Story of the Declaration of Independence,” The approaching 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is an occasion to reflect and ponder.” The reflected and pondered questions like: Who should decide the stories we tell? How do we construct a national identity that reconciles the evil and good facets of history? How do we define patriotism and national identity? Talking with Ms. Hafera at the Heritage Foundation inspired us to answer the questions through different views of the people, the nation, and the world.
On our first day of the trip, we went to the Heritage Foundation and talked with Ms. Brenda Hafera, Assistant Director and Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation’s Simon Center for American Studies.
She wrote in “The Story of the Declaration of Independence” that “the approaching 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is an occasion to reflect and ponder.” The eleven of us traversed through Washington D.C to reflect and ponder questions like: Who should decide the stories we tell? How do we construct a national identity that reconciles the evil and good facets of history? How do we define patriotism and national identity? Talking with Ms. Hafera at the Heritage Foundation inspired us to answer the questions through different views of the people, the nation, and the world.
As an expert in the field of public policy, Ms. Hafera introduced us to the responsibilities of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank. She emphasized that “we the people are the policy,” because valid policies can only be pushed forward if the right people are in the right position. Among the multiple policies and projects they implemented, the Heritage Guide to Historic Sites, which offers comments and grades for 135 sites across the country, stood out as an important evaluator of the legitimacy of historic sites. For instance, the webpage dedicated to Mount Vernon (the former residence of President George Washington) assesses the site as a crucial primary source because it did a good job of shedding light on the stories of both the president and the enslaved people with a modest tone. These “stories always have things attached [to them]”, and our job to discern them contributes to a better understanding of what it means to be an American back in time and now.
Ms. Hafera elaborated on the definition of American identity through her interpretation of the Constitution and the history of America. She said the so-called “American exceptionalism” does not refer to an arrogant impulse of the States, but instead, signifies the distinct founding story of the United States. While most other countries build from scratch with only one race, America was founded with the presence of various races. This difference spawns its “exceptionalism” and the basis for discussions of ethnic equity. Equity is only implemented when no one can rule over another without consent. If one treated another as their property, it is a violation against the founding fathers’ will that “all men are created equal”. Equity then leads to respect. A democratic republic is when one respects another’s right of self-governance. This concept of mutual respect is an obligation of every citizen. All of the above are just pieces of the identity puzzle.
Walking through the many exhibits and listening to the many stories of the past, we often wonder who has the sovereignty to tell what version of history? Ms. Hafera stressed the importance of primary sources, even though some consisted of subjective perspectives. Though bias is an inherent human condition, it led to the suspicious nature of history, especially oral history. Like the game Telephone, messages were never delivered immaculately to serve the same purpose as they were initially intended.
It is hard to determine the credibility of the stories, hence Ms. Hafera brought us into the founding fathers’ shoes to let us conceive the dilemmas they went through. In the face of slavery, Jefferson wrote, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever,” implying that he was scared of the consequences of their unethical practice of slavery. They were afraid. People nowadays often see the founding fathers as omnipotent and all-brave, forgetting that they were human beings like each and every one of us. Yet, what made them great was their virtue to concede and compromise. When the South threatened to be independent at the Constitution Convention, the fathers needed to take a step back or else the United States would now be the severed snake, and Lincoln would never be able to emancipate the unfree men. Ms. Hafera then asked the question of what we would do if we were them. Silence followed the inquiry. From this experience, I think perhaps frequently situating ourselves in the historical context is the best way to learn it.
History is an experience of going back to the heroes’ time, but is also a crystallized testament of stories told. Stories are windows that lead us to the past, but sometimes these skylights are shattered, leading to disputes among the people. These disputes are ongoing debates on whether stories should weigh the truth or their inclusiveness. By inclusiveness, I mean the diversity of the people included in the stories. Ms. Hafera thinks it is very hard to achieve total inclusiveness and tell the heroic tales of each race or gender played during a historic occurrence, because we only have a limited number of artifacts. It is true that not all the founding stories of America included all people with different backgrounds. Disputes, therefore, occur because people believe these stories elevated the standing of one social group in an implicit way. However, this might be, in fact, a crucial reflection of how history was recorded and thus contributes to the accuracy of history. Yet, unfortunately, we may never know the absolute truth of what we tell.
Despite the unpredictability of historic truth or fallacy, we do our best to preserve what we have. According to Ms. Hafera, it is we, the people, who decide how to tell the stories of history. The generation is suggested to recognize the difference between education and indoctrination. Indoctrination is the installation of information when one is “teaching” another for their own ends. Perhaps it is difficult to know the motivation of the many sources of stories, but Ms. Hafera affirmed the validity of one type of education that is generous and impactful. That is parental education. It is a natural law for parents to have the right to educate their children, and oftentimes parental education is straightforward and with no other averting causes due to kinship and love.
From the concept of “exceptionalism” and American identity to the shaping of stories by family members, Ms. Hafera led us through the history of America’s founding. She pointed out both the grievances and the pride of the country. Her words synthesized all into one simple but profound idea that there is no perfect system. People are always striving to be infinitely close to the ideals written in the Constitution. We are ever closer but not there yet.
The best thing to do is to rely on each individual and the choices each makes. That includes us, the younger generation. We have the obligation to rule for ourselves and the future. The nation depends on our virtues of self-governance over impulses. It has always been the founding fathers’ intention for us to be part of the process, the process of erring, transcending, and uniting. To live up to the principles of the Constitution, help yourself, then your family, then the community. Baby steps are undoubtedly the crucial first steps toward bigger accomplishments.
Bearing hope and a heart of insight into the storytelling of the nation’s people, the eleven of us went on to enjoy a delicious lunch at Immigrant Food!
