When I was a kid, I used to belong to a club known as the Boys Brotherhood Republic or the BBR. It's the same place that sponsored my trips to Camp Wabenaki each summer from 1974-1978 and the first place to employ me (I was a camp counselor from 1979-1982).
What was unique about this club was that it was self-governing. Unlike the Boys Club of New York, every year we elected a Mayor, eight councilmen, a city clerk, comptroller, a judge and a prosecuting attorney. Every BBR "citizen" paid annual dues of about $1 or so, and performed a weekly duty as a police officer to enforce the clubs laws. Get into a fight, curse someone out, you get arrested and go to trial. Defendants were always represented by an BBR citizen lawyer, who had to pass a written test and an examination before the bar. There was even a code of conduct:
YOUNG PEOPLE'S
Bill of Responsibilities
To My Country, My Parents,
and Myself -- That I May:
1. Honor my parents, my elders, and my teachers.
2. Take care of my body, mind, and spirit.
3. Improve myself through education, in preparation for the future.
4. Perform my work to the best of my ability.
5. Develop high moral principles and the courage to live by them.
6. Grow in character and ability as I grow in size.
7. Respect the rights and feelings of others.
8. Be honest with myself and others in what I say and do.
9. Set a good example so others may enjoy and profit by my company.
10. Obey the laws of society and live in harmony with others.
11. Preserve and support our American way of life and the government of our people.
What's remarkable about this club is that there were no political parties. None. There were no interest groups that voted on a single-issue basis. There was no concern about the color of one's skin or what faith they chose to follow. We were only citizens.
These days, in a world where "othering" another American citizen for political gain is the rule, I was reminded of the BBR ideal I learned many years ago. It was my misinterpretation of this post put up by FranIAm that got me thinking about this subject. The point of her post was to showcase an interview of Martin Sheen by the Catholic legal scholar Douglas Kmiec on Barack Obama. I took it to mean that she was voting "as a Catholic".
That wasn't the point of her post though, and I apologized letting her know that I am both an idealist and a pessimist when it comes to the way we Americans constantly hyphenate our identities.
But in writing this, I felt I needed to let her know what drives my passion for us to be one people, no hyphens, just Americans -- like Fran, and Martin, and Douglas, and Jerry Stiller, a Jewish kid from the Lower East Side who was also a BBR boy.
