Amid high degrees of partisan political polarization it is easy to miss what we share as citizens of the United States: The opportunity to pursue our dreams. Marta's use of the phrase "free and open society" reminds me of a remark Karl Popper made in his book The Open Society and Its Enemies: "We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.” In our current context, in my opinion, we could do with more focus on what we have in common, more substantive debate about what policies make sense, and less vilification of the motives of the other side.
Decades later, I’m still in awe of the courage my parents showed in fleeing Cuba - with four children under 6 - to realize their dream of living in a free and open society. Hispanic Heritage Month is a reminder that, while we are people of many cultures and countries, we share this ability to face incredible challenges with even more incredible courage. That is our history – and it inspires our future. #HispanicHeritageMonth