Hamilton: The Essence of Optimism

Let's alter the order this week, and talk politics today.

Now, this article could be about the Brexit, which if combined with a Donald Trump presidency in November, would lead this author to doubt democracy, and instead favor a system producing as its fruit: a levelheaded and reasonable citizenry. A citizenry skeptical of lies and obvious artificial constructions intended for inciting fear. A people able to reject a Brexit in which all its influential supporters included cranks, radicals, and naked opportunists, while the Bremain spokes-members were the popular elected officals of the United States and the European powers.

The only good news is, even those campaigning for Brexit seem hesitant now they've won, and its possible the UK resignation will not be submitted.

But this isn't about the Brexit. Not really.

Instead bypass the results and reflect on what is, what was, and what could be.

Donald Trump and the Brexiteers endorse a pessimistic view of the future, and a regressive one. The latter is the more obvious. Both display a blind loyalty to the past, implying by their word that it was better in every conceivable way, and a return to it would bring about a paradise on earth.

But as those who have read The Great Gatsby understand, the past isn't an object which can be altered, but a idealistic creation of the mind: created, embellished, and mythologized. The America Trump wishes to make great again, and the United Kingdom UKIP desires to reclaim from its European Overlords (though their success in retreating from the EU will most likely result in the loss of Scotland) can't be recreated in the present. It is only in the manipulated and delusional brains of the voters where their glorified country exists. It never existed as they remember it. The memories they expound to the willing listener suggest a unblemished nation sustained by vibrant opportunity, but no decade of United States history supports this conclusion. In every period challenges and turmoil existed, from the social upheaval of the hippies, feminists, and anti-war protesters coupled with the economic downturn of the '70s and '80s, or the unrest and division of the '60s civil rights era, and prior to that, decades of disenfranchisement of a sizable minority.

Since its inception the United States has accomplished an astonishing expansion of justice and equality, always attempting to embody its ideal, even if always failed realize it. To revert to a past era of United States history would be a rejection of success and a repudiation of shared heritage. The United Kingdom, as a member of an inclusive Europe, has enjoyed a peace and prosperity of equals that in spite of the recent recession and the immigration crisis, is unrivaled in its history. Yet voters inexplicably rejected involvement, embracing an antagonist and outsider status with their most crucial cultural and economic allies.

In the musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda (a Broadway success I enjoy despite disagreeing strenuously with Alexander Hamilton's political philosophy), the composer portrays his subject as the paragon of optimism. Hamilton opens with the statement, “I'm not throwing away my shot,” expressing his desire to not waste his life, but to commit to an ideal, the United States as expressed in the yet unwritten Constitution. Halfway through the play his rival Aaron Burr expresses that Hamilton “is non-stop,” and questions “how do you write like you're running running out of time?” Unlike Burr, Hamilton is trying to make an impact upon the world for the world's sake. And in the conclusion, as he reflects upon his choice to shoot Burr or suffer death, Hamilton compares the United States to a “great unfinished symphony.” He does not think it is is completed, even though he has dedicated his life to its construction.

These snippets of text highlight Hamilton's enthusiasm to seized the opportunity to better the nation.

Lin-Manuel Miranda sees Alexander as a man who discovers opportunity in chaos, who uses this chance to write his vision upon the world. This ideal of Hamilton's is not one of relentless, regressive, backward gazing: no desire to return to the British Empire or the colonial practices of the past, but a search to illuminate a path forward. To create a nation where none existed, based on a principle never before embraced.

One of the repeating themes of the play is Hamilton's line, “... Look around, How lucky we are to be alive right now.” In the midst of chaos, danger, and turmoil, Alexander sees only opportunity. He is incapable of the base pessimism that pervades the modern world. Where Donald Trump, UKIP, and their supporters view the present and future with horrific fear and reject it and its possibilities out of hand, the founding fathers didn't. Whether the depiction of Alexander Hamilton is correct or not, its impossible to imagine those who signed the Declaration of Independence, fought the American Revolution, and produced the Constitution, also embraced a pervading negativity about their future. They were visionaries, people looking forward to success with innovation, and their success was not was not the isolated success of a bully, but the victory of a nation.

There are admitted difficulties in the United States and the European Union, just as there are in smaller bodies such as the states themselves, or larger ones such as the United Nations. But in a interconnected world, withdrawing from agencies under the shadow of pessimism and turning inwards towards false glories will only produce regression. Working as a member of the community to increase transparency, efficiency, and is the method of success.

And visionaries will seek to make each moment an opportunity to transform the mundane articles of government into a vehicle of peace, justice, and equality for all.