Why We Need Hamilton

I had heard great things about the musical production of Hamilton, but dissuaded from seeing it by sticker shock, I hadn’t experienced what all the fuss was about until the Disney + release during quarantine. Thank you Disney. Because Hamilton is just what we need right now.

I wasn’t surprised I loved it, but I was surprised at how much my kids loved it. They caught the fever and Hamilton songs around here have been “non-stop“. They are constantly singing (off key), my 6 year old makes an incredible King George, and everything reminds us of some line from the play. It’s been fun. Maybe a little much, but fun.

As I’ve listened (over and over) to the songs of the revolutionary war and the founding of a new nation, I’m impressed with the thought that this is what Americans need in this cultural moment. It takes us back to the early days of an idealistic beginning – full of vision, (contradictions), hope, and inspiration. Back to the idea of what could be.

As we face a fraught election season, Hamilton invites us to dream again about what it means to be American. America at its worst has surely explored the depths of human depravity, but at its best has been a shining beacon of hope and possibility. And while the depravity part may be true of most nations, I don’t believe many other places have brushed the heights this country has seen at its very best. America is the hope of human progression, of the ascendancy of our better angels. It’s a dream, really – a beautiful, fragile dream. A dream worth preserving.

America from its very beginning has been marked by debate, argument and conflict. There was never a magic time when we all saw eye to eye. We’ve fought our way to new ideas and new horizons – at times constructively, at times destructively. And though I tire of the constant warring of political parties, I have to admit that the fighting is better than the alternative – the alternative that the American experiment was set up to avoid – one group, one viewpoint having complete power to impose their ideals on everyone else.

The founding fathers understood humankind’s fraught relationship with power. Humans are far too corruptible to be trusted with too much power, no matter how lovely their intentions at the start. If the right wing had full power to create their vision of the world, there would be oppression. If the left wing had that power there would be oppression. It would be a different demographic oppressed under each, but don’t be fooled – the potential for evil lurks in both. Whether in the sheepskin of religion or humanism, any group with too much power is to be feared.

So rejoice in the messy, inefficient wheels of democracy that keep each side’s potential for evil in check. Never wish it gone. Even at our very beginning, different visions for the path forward churned and clashed. Like Hamilton and Jefferson, “diametrically opposed foes”, who managed to lay for us a firm foundation.

As we grapple with our nation’s sins, let’s not forget its ideals. If we truly love this country let’s work together, constructively fight with each other as necessary, to keep pursuing the shining beacon that America is at it’s best.

Raise a glass.