Eight score and two years ago—almost to the day—President Abraham Lincoln soothed America’s soul on a blood-soaked field near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His speech was only 272 words long, and many who were present that day didn’t even realize he was speaking. The President reminded those who were listening that the United States had once been “a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” A few minutes later, he ended his speech with these words: “and 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.”
Words matter. They not only convey literal meaning, but they also have the power to lift our spirits and show us more clearly not just what is, but what could be. In that sense, they are timeless; they are our enduring legacy.
Fast forward:
Finger jabbing: “Quiet; quiet, piggy.” (3 words that matter)
Shoulders shrugging: “Things happen.” (2 words that matter)
Angry scowl: “You are a terrible reporter.” (5 words that matter)
Mr. Trump has once again defiled the Presidency and demeaned us a nation. He is incapable of any soaring rhetoric, refuses to create dialogue, never makes a responsible or empathetic connection. Just dissembling, ranting, and erratic behavior. Even Mr. Trump’s most ardent supporters must wonder what his words and actions mean. MBS is feted at the White House? Zohran Mamdani is now a “really great mayor” after being labeled a “100% Communist lunatic?” Listening to Mr. Trump, I bottom-out, or think I do, only to discover that he can go lower still. The world watches in disbelief: what has happened to America?
For the first three and a half score of my life, there were a million things I took for granted. Simple kinetic movements, like bending over or pulling on my socks or tying my shoes. In those years, I could still get up from the floor or rise from a chair without all the squawking sound effects that now come from my bones and joints. Back then, I could sleep soundly through the night and dream about America’s inherent goodness. But now, let’s just say that what was once easy is difficult, and what was once difficult is now almost impossible.
I took other things for granted, too: kindness; respect; empathy. All those lessons we were supposed to have learned in kindergarten, like playing nicely, speaking kindly, saying please and thank you. Practicing common courtesies like giving up one’s seat on the bus, or allowing a pedestrian to use the crosswalk—all the small grace notes that make a big difference in the quality of our lives. But now all those norms are quivering. Pandora’s box is open and all the harpies it contained are loosed upon us.
I took these things for granted, too: belief in Democracy; in the Constitution; in the rule of law; in a free press and free speech. The separation of church and state. Civil rights. Working across the political aisle for the common good. All these things still matter, but they are fading fast, if they’re not already gone, all because of one man and the minions who enable him. How utterly sad.
In another two days, we will assemble— families, friends, and communities—to give thanks for what remains of the American dream. We will pray and hope that we still live under a government that is “of the people, by the people, and for the people, and that it shall not perish from the earth.”
Of. By. For. These three little words still matter. Now more than ever.
I’ll be right back.
Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. His editorials and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His most recent novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon and in local bookstores. His newest novel, “The People Game,” hits the market in February, 2026. His website is musingjamie.net.
Jim Bachman says
This issue has actually been “quantified” in a way. In 2019 Trump’s unscripted speech patterns were scored on the Flesch-Kincaid scale. At the time, Trump scored 4.5 — that is, his speech patterns were approximately equivalent to a 4th grader (age 10). His score would likely be much lower today.
Clearly he has a very limited vocabulary and from reports about his briefings, his reading comprehension is likely no better than his speech patterns and very probably worse.
Dick Deerin says
Thank you for this very appropriate message for Thanksgiving weekend.
Mary Smith says
It’s hard to hear talk of “government of, by, and for the people” when conservation politics in Talbot County have casually erased the livelihoods of entire communities. The American dream once meant private property rights, self-determination, and the ability to build a life close to home. Here, those things have been gutted. Workers are pushed out of civic life, excluded from living near their jobs, and left with almost no access to employment, affordable housing, medical care, or basic services. Seniors are isolated to the point that the county has to drive around and check on them, and food drives fill the gaps left by a broken local economy. This didn’t happen by accident. Talbot chose policies that protected scenery for the few over opportunity for the many, and the result is a county where young people and working families haven’t perished from the Earth, but they have certainly perished from Talbot County.
Mickey Terrone says
Thank you for that thought provoking article that reminds us of the message of hope delivered so succinctly by Abraham Lincoln and then undermined and mutilated by Donald Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress and the Supreme Court. The American nightmare of racism and bigotry that predated Lincoln but still has not been eradicated by the outcome of the Civil War.
The massive internal damage done to our country’s aspirational goals perpetrated by Trump and his close associates is just a part of the American nightmare. Trump’s heart could give out tomorrow but his malignant torrent of lies, disinformation, racism, sexism, felonies, blasphemously false Christianity, sexual molestation children and the panoply of his efforts to undermine America’s world leadership and national security by abandoning Ukraine and NATO and our own democracy for a fascistic oligarchy would cease to exist by the absence of his singular voice of hatred.
Yet the far worse long-term effect of his vile presence will be the social, political, religious and economic remnants that his deluded true believers, whose willingness blindly to place their faith and trust in such a horrendous excuse for an American and a man and a Christian, has betrayed us as a people. That Republican cult will seek out the next Trump, although some might actually believe he is the only person who could make America great again. I hope so, but I doubt it and the competition among Trump’s close-in cadre of charlatans will be intense and perhaps even more insanely radical than Trump himself.
The oligarchs already have quite a strangle hold on America’s electoral, political and judicial processes. They will work to decide upon the next worst madman available.
Unfortunately, Lincoln died too soon and his Unionist supporters got only half the job done to ensure equality for all Americans. Those who sought to maintain the enslavement of colored people won the peace in the decades after Appomattox by creating a mythology that depicted those who fought for slavery as the innocent victims of the Union who simply sought their independence. From early on in his first campaign, Trump jumped on that racist bandwagon and gave voice to that segment of our population and the many other racist elements of society in different areas of the country, so they emerged from their bunkers after resisting the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, using the structure of the Republican Party to tap into their rank and file. And despite his economic program that was catastrophic to average Americans’ economic status, they again voted for him to further damage their own future health and welfare and any real hope for economic prosperity.
If there could only be a 2026 Lincoln-figure hidden somewhere in the Republican Cult Party capable of communicating with deluded, self-destructive people, he (or she) could likely save that organization, the country and world democracy in the process.
That is my Thanksgiving wish, hope and prayer.