American Unity

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I will never forget what I saw, but more importantly, what I felt 19 years ago today.

On 9/11 I was in Philadelphia, serving as a law clerk for a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. I had spent weeks preparing my judge for hearings that would occur in the federal courthouse.

Ironically, one of our cases involved a man convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center ([link removed]) . The appeal would be heard in the United States Courthouse, which sits just around the corner from one of our most powerful symbols of American liberty: Independence Hall.

After those horrifying events unfolded, the courthouse and all of Philadelphia shut down in a way that we haven’t seen again--at least until 2020.

2020 is the first major election where some of those who are now voting not only have no memory of 9/11, but were not alive when it happened. While these young voters fortunately did not experience the horrors and emotions of that morning, they unfortunately also have no memory of the unity we experienced in America during the days after. It was a time when American flags spontaneously appeared on homes and cars, and--though hard to believe now--members of Congress came together to sing “God Bless America” ([link removed]-“God-Bless-America”-on-September-11,-2001/) on the steps of the United States Capitol.

Such unity seems almost unthinkable today. Yet, in many ways, it is even more important now than ever. We can conquer any enemy, as long as we are unified as a country. And to be unified, we need to treat each other with dignity, respect, and love. This does not mean that we do not disagree--after all, productive disagreements are the hallmark of intelligent people.

As one of my favorite political writers, Arthur Brooks, has said: we need to “disagree better, not less.”

While we should always be agreeable in our disagreeing, this does not mean that we stop fighting to maintain principles that make America strong, even if they are temporarily “out of favor.” One of our core First Amendment freedoms--the freedom of speech--has been a hallmark of American liberty for over 200 years. Now, in 2020, some segments of America appear to be perfectly content throwing it out entirely, forcibly silencing those who have opinions that differ from their own.

In 1906 Evelyn Beatrice Hall reportedly coined this famous phrase: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” In 2020, many in the political sphere are now saying, in effect, “I will defend your right to say it, but only if I agree with it.”

Our core First Amendment freedoms not only are synonymous with what it means to be American, but their existence were some of the reasons that extremists killed over 4,000 of our brothers and sisters 19 years ago this morning.

Let us always remember that our core freedoms are not theoretical; not “nice to haves”. They are the essence of what it means to be an American. And as we see those in 2020 actively attempting to undermine those freedoms, we need to remember what Reagan stated decades ago: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

It is my hope that we will always remember not only what we lost 19 years ago this morning, but what we learned, and to pass it on to the next generation.

God Bless you all,

Chairman Derek Brown
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