With my students in UVU’s new master’s degree in Constitutional Government, Civics, and Law, I have recently been reviewing the themes of natural rights and civic virtues as we read selections from the period of the Revolution and the framing of the Constitution. In the Declaration of Independence, for example, Americans embraced the “self-evident” truth of natural rights, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Readings from John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; Alexander Hamilton; Mercy Otis Warren; the first Black American minister, Lemuel Haynes; and others echo the importance of these basic human rights.
Such rights can be protected (not granted) by government, but a democratic republic nonetheless relies on the civic virtue of its citizens. Such virtues include qualities such as courage, honor, humility, integrity, justice, moderation, prudence and respect. Their opposites, including hubris, injustice, self-deception and contempt, are to be eschewed as dangers to not only society but the very strength of the republic.
Thus it was completely unsettling to witness the polar opposite of the civic virtue that our founders and framers knew our nation needed to be great, when I watched President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy like playground bullies. I am aghast. I am disgusted. I am embarrassed, saddened and even angry.
This approach displayed no honor, no justice, no respect. It was immoderate and contemptuous. It indicated no awareness of the international Trilateral Agreement of 1994, signed between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom, when Ukraine voluntarily gave up the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for agreements that the others would “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine” and defend it if attacked. It did not show recognition of the human rights held by Ukrainians and suppressed by the Russian attack.
In contrast, right now in my hometown of Corvallis, Oregon, five Ukrainian amputees are exemplifying civic virtues such as respect, honor and courage. For more than 30 years, Corvallis has had a sister-city relationship with Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Knowledge has been exchanged, those in need supported and deep friendships developed. This visit is one of hundreds of moments when the people of these two cities have recognized and respected the humanity of one another.
These heroes fought bravely in the war that Russia began, each losing a leg. With two Ukrainian ski instructors — and even though Oregon’s is not the “greatest snow on earth” — they will learn three-track skiing, using poles which have small toboggans on the end. Then they will return to Ukraine and, as ambassadors of peace, teach other amputees how to ski in the Zakarpattia (Transcarpathian) mountains near Uzhhorod.
These patriots display a deep desire to enjoy their natural rights and to live a good life — to enjoy “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Americans should uphold this desire in Ukraine as our founders and framers upheld it for our forebears, who lit a light of freedom that has inspired the whole world. French President Emmanuel Macron said: “There is an aggressor, Russia, and an aggressed people, Ukraine.” Watching Trump and Vance bully Zelenskyy seemed to ally our country with the aggressors. We must instead choose freedom and virtue, like the Ukrainian amputees who exemplify heroism, sacrifice and bravery.
The author does not speak on behalf of, nor do the views expressed necessarily represent, Utah Valley University.