Unlock Congress's 10th Anniversary!

In Judge Learned Hand's famous speech, he's really talking about character. Especially in politics. No matter how we 'reform the rules,' the success of a government still relies on its people. Us."

Ten years ago today, I released my first book into the world: Unlock Congress. What a difference a decade makes.

Choosing Tax Day in 2015 to publish and promote it was no accident. The metaphor of the book was that Congress was delivering a defective product to we the people. Our taxes pay for this product, and the Constitution is our civic warranty. That historic document allows each of us to take action in a couple of ways to make change:

1. Voting in different representatives.

2. Changing the rules in our system by pushing our representative to amend the law, or amend the Constitution.

I chose the second option as the focus of my book, and it took me over a year and a half to research and write it. In some ways, it was like getting a partial law degree. I had to go deep into The Federalist Papers, the Constitution, and plenty of Supreme Court precedent.

The man who became a mentor to me during the book process. Norman J. Ornstein is considered America’s foremost expert on the U.S. Congress.

I’m so grateful to so many of you who really engaged with Unlock Congress, and that includes new friends who helped to get the message out. Five universities used the book in their curriculum, including Arizona State where I taught it myself. I had so many great experiences with students, colleagues, media outlets and conferences on democracy and government reform. A super-nerd’s dream come true!

But on this 10th anniversary, I don’t want to talk about the rules. In fact, I want to quote a brilliant man who got to the core of what our democracy is about — and it’s a lot more than just laws and guidelines written on parchment a couple of centuries ago.

Judge Learned Hand served as a Justice on the U.S. Court of Appeals and District Court in New York for 55 years. In 1944, Hand gave a speech at the “I Am An American Day” in Central Park that would become famous. It was entitled “The Spirit of Liberty.” The entire speech can be read here; today I am just sharing my favorite part of it:

We sought liberty; freedoms from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be ourselves. This we now believe that we are by way of winning. What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.

Judge Learned Hand (source: Facing History)

Just as with poetry or literature, people take away different things away from different passages of words. We interpret. And our thinking is colored by our own personal backgrounds.

But to me, Hand is really talking about one word: Character. Especially in politics.

In recent decades, it feels like we’ve lost some of that. Social media and massive money in the system haven’t helped. But we just don’t seem to care as much about character in elections as we used to.

Talking Congress with students at Benedictine University’s Center for Civic Leadership.

The bottom line is that it’s still up to us. Whether it’s who we choose to elect — and how the winners behave once they’re in office, or how we push those officials to abide by the law and make reforms that are good for all Americans, it still comes down to the character of each individual. Us. How we treat each other. How we help each other.

Right in the middle of his speech, Judge Hand distilled it down beautifully:

“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women.”

Let’s live and lead with our hearts.

MICHAEL GOLDEN is the cofounder of One Million Degrees, a national award-winning journalist and bestselling author. The Golden Mean is where he works to convert ‘hidden lessons’ into active wisdom.

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