LHL: Why at the moment is this discussion so critical? How do you find us at a moment where the finding of a true American story is important?
KR: I think we’re at a moment now where the standard story isn’t working for us anymore. I think in part it’s not working for us because it actually teaches us bad lessons. It teaches us that violent revolution against the national government, treason against the national government, is American patriotism, which I think is a bad lesson. But it’s also inaccurate in a lot of ways. And it requires us to identify with people like Thomas Jefferson, which, frankly, I find pretty difficult, and I think a lot of people find difficult.
The standard story that we have now isn’t working for a number of reasons. And there’s a struggle about how to deal with that because people want a story that’s accurate, that’s honest, that doesn’t downplay bad things that have been done in the past, which our standard story does a lot. But they also want a story that allows us to see an America that we believe in, that we can love, that we can feel patriotic attachment to. And that’s what I’m trying to offer.
A lot of the defenders of the standard story will say to things like the 1619 Project, “You’re going to destroy people’s faith in America. You’re teaching children to hate America. You’re teaching that America is irredeemable and bad and built on racism.” I’m trying to go 180 degrees away from that. I’m saying America is much better than you think. America is not founded in a slaveholders’ rebellion. America is founded in a war against slavery. The Civil War really does end slavery. The Revolution actually protects it. I’m saying we have a much better story.
We have an inspirational set of founders. We have a great document that states our principles; it’s the Gettysburg Address rather than the Declaration of Independence. We have a war that’s fought for those principles. We have a constitution that makes the law. We have all the things you want in the standard story. It’s accurate, and it’s more inspiring. You can say America is a great country built on liberty, where people died to protect the rights of others. You just have to understand, it’s not the 1776 America. It’s more the 1863 America.