Washington D.C. is the American ideal.
From the history of the city, to the monuments, to the history of the country, to the video they show you in the Capitol about our government, it represents all that is good with our government and country.
But it is the ideal.
I have tried hard for many years to not be cynical when it comes to American ideals, but it is hard as I have seen many political issues become what's good for the individual political party and not what's good for the country.
If you speak to many people who have worked in Washington for just a short amount of time, it is sad to hear the idealism has dulled or even disappeared.
But the thing is this, the more we know the more cynical we will get, and it has always been that way.
The country has been political since the beginning with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton fighting over policy. There has been mud slinging, immoral activity and less than ideal behavior by many of our national politicians since before our freedom as a country and it will continue long after the US is gone. We've had presidents be impeached, resign and murdered and yet we continue to strive on towards what we should become.
But Washington D.C. is the American ideal.
It's what we strive to be and fail every single day.
It's what shows us what working together can accomplish even though there was often division that had to be overcome to get that "united" item finished.
It's what we, as Americans, look at and fills us with patriotism despite our failures as a country.
Washington D.C. is the American ideal and ideals are hard to attain, but they exist so that we continue to strive for them.
We must strive for them through our cynical realism and even when people are telling us "no" and fighting against us whether from abroad or within this country.
If you have never been to our nation's Capitol, go.
It will remind you of what we could be and that we must fight to continue taking steps towards that ideal reality.
