Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood

I must and hate to admit that my recollection of French history is a bit rusty.  As a History and Political Science major in college and a High School History/Poli Sci /World Cultures teacher for a good long while, I studied or taught mostly American history and our connections to world history through  American lenses.  So coming to Paris is fueling a renewed interest in France before WWII!

All around the city is the French motto, Liberte', Egalite', Fraternite'!  Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood.  These words, adopted or instituted in 1848 saw a long birthing process and evolution before being emblazoned on France's flags and facades.  It is interesting to read these words and interpret them first with an American understanding and then to see how they play out in French modern life and in her history.

Liberty...how very American this concept seems.  The right to live as most people believe as God intended and in cooperation with our fellow citizens to seek a life, free to be you and me...thank you Marlo Thomas for that lesson from my childhood.  I think that liberty in the American sense is a foundational thread , a golden thread in the fabric of our country as it strenghtens our government and the common good.  Liberty is freedom, but freedom with design and purpose. 

In my renewed study of Liberte', the French concept, I am discovering a more fluid, conceptual reality of liberty.  I think I will have to find some writings by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Pierre Leroux to fully understand the French requirement of this fluidity as a function of history and the adaptation of meaning to the times and circumstances of the people.  At its core, this liberty is the exercise of natural rights to do what men and women freely choose, without harming others and without impeding the rights and choices of fellow citizens. Liberty in France is true freedom although maybe  a bit risky on its own.

Equality...another foundational premise for our United States of America.  A concept that was nobly conceived but often sacrificed to further other American ideals.  American equality took a beating up through the 1960's and some believe still gets a good lashing by those who choose ignorance rather than acceptance.  But as a noble concept, America's Equality is pure and it is woven inextricably in the fabric of our nation... to paraphrase...all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights... among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

According to France's The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, published in 1789, equality is applied by law and , "The law must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, shall be equally eligible to all high offices, public positions and employments, according to their ability, and without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents."   The twist in my American understanding of this premise is how throughout time, France has identified her citizens.  From a monarchy to republics, from nationalism to socialism back to nationalism, France has maintained an internal struggle with the idea of citizen.  Perhaps this is why I have found some of the people I have encountered to be patronizing and smarting of isolationism.  I guess this is where Fraternite as a concept is supposed to offer balance.

Brotherhood/fraternity moves the French from codes and codicils to the realm of morality, spirituality and community.   Like the American struggles with our concept of equality throughout our history (slavery, suffrage, equal rights and equal protections), the French continue to struggle to find balance, with brotherhood often being the weight sending the scales of justice teetering...a delicate balance of idealism and human rights....balancing the needs of the  individual and the requirements of community.  Brotherhood was intended to represent a third leg of a triad, melding France into an assembly...a national assembly...I guess it is their way of saying, we, the people.

From watching televised debates during this current regional election, reading the novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog, reading French and International journals and in having discussions with new and old acquaintances here in Paris, my American eyes see France really struggling with a renewed nationalistic movement...a new definition of brotherhood.  From tougher immigration laws, laws that limit personal expression to pushing people to "fit" a  notion of culture and identity that is wholly French and a growing prejudice toward second and third generation "French" from the immigrant population, Old World France is butting headlong and painfully into Modern France...a France that many hope to reverse.  And France, among others is starting to push back on the idea of the European Union...growing pains perhaps, but a struggle among all the very different families trying to live in the same tree...but no grafting of branches if you please.

Rather than identifying brotherhood as one of the threads of our colloquial fabric,  the USA embraced E Pluribus Unum as a motto...Out of Many, One, and it became a swath of the fabric of our lives.  It first reflected that from thirteen colonies, a new nation was born, but throughout our history, it has come to mean from many countries comes one people...Americans...the land of the free and the home of the brave.  We embrace the tired, poor, wretched refuse and welcome them to dig deep into their own rich traditions, challenge them to courageously enter this amazing land and weave their thread, add their mark...their blood, sweat and tears, into the fabric of our nation.

Ben Franklin once alluded that from English roots, sprung a new nation, a new people, rougher and more crude, but possessing the promise of greatness because of our ideals of liberty, equality and that because of the differences in the sum of our parts, the whole, the nation was much greater than any previous government and people...and that because of this diversity, America's strength was exponentially compounded for and by generations to come.  We are a warty bunch...and our national fabric has tears and the stains of tears, but it is strong.


I hope that as I become more accustomed to life in France and I study her history, my appreciation for her journey will grow.  I have a sense that the more I learn about France and Europe, the keener my sense of America.will be.  In my own flawed American way, I wish that in France and Europe, there is an "aha" moment...that E Pluribus Unum becomes a world motto and mantra...American idealism I guess, but it works pretty well for us and I think could really strengthen a new world fabric...perhaps a patchwork quilt of sorts, but together each unique piece bound together, by common threads...with  liberty, justice, equality, brotherhood...for all.

If I knew how to add music to my blog, I would insert Ray Charles' America the Beautiful here.  And I should probably go read the words to The Marseillaise...for further insight and appreciation!