Some thoughts on two cities

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times...”

This past week I couldn’t stop thinking about this paradoxical opening line in Charles Dickens’ classic 19th century novel, A Tale Of Two Cities. As you know, in Dickens’ novel the geographical settings were, in fact, two cities, London and Paris. But in the novel in my head, the two cities are the same place: Washington, D.C.

Making my annual pilgrimage to our nation’s capital for Small Business Week, this year, more than at any other time since I first came to the planet’s de facto seat of democracy in 1967, I was struck by what a paradoxical place it has become. In the same moment Washington, D.C. is both beautiful and ugly, powerful and fearful, the beacon of liberty and the most dramatic example in America of the loss of liberties. Here are three of many examples of the best and worst that are stuck in my mind.

- Standing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, before I could contemplate all the intimidating political and military power that can be imposed anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice by an order from inside the beautiful building we call the White House, I first had to contemplate the ugly and intimidating barricades that have been imposed around it.

- Attending a function in the State Department building, before I could behold the breathtaking historical artifacts found in the rooms on the magnificently decorated reception level, I first had to be beheld by a metal detector while watching a glamorously dressed lady, arms out-stretched, suffer the ignominy of being “wanded.”

- Lifting my eyes to gaze at the many elegant and beautiful structures that have been witnesses to history, my gaze first lands on the rude security structures that limit my physical access and steal any opportunity for my eyes to enjoy an aesthetic moment or record a pleasing memory.

I have always loved going to Washington, D.C. Still do. And even though it will never again be “a sleepy little southern town,” as David Brinkley wrote in Washington Goes To War, about pre-WWII Washington, I do look forward to the day when it is a city that not only stands for liberty, but is also able to enjoy liberty in full measure.

Until then, those of us who love liberty have a lot of work to do. We are at war with merchants of hatred and intolerance who hide in the shadows. A war whose victory we cannot claim until our nation’s capital is one city again.