Undemocratic 1 AMERICA, STILL EXCEPTIONAL? My family name wasn''t originally "Sekulow." That''s the Americanized version of Sokolov, or Sokolof-a Russian name that was difficult to translate into English. When my grandfather landed at Ellis Island, the intake officer heard his name and wrote "Sekulow," and we''ve been Sekulow ever since. My grandfather fled Russia during the time of the Russian persecution of the Jews as the fires of repression and religious intolerance raged. The seeds of the Russian Revolution had been planted, which bloomed into the Soviet Union, a nation that continued the campaign of persecution. Europe has long been hostile to Jews (and, sadly, much of that hostility continues to this day), but Russia ramped up the persecution to an unprecedented level. The story of the Russian Revolution is a story of death and war, with the Red Army cutting a swathe of destruction across Russia, enemies of the Soviet Union slaughtered in great numbers, and the larger world-exhausted by the devastation of World War I and struggling in the face of a horrific flu pandemic that killed -millions-too distracted to prevent disaster. Those who could flee, did.

Fortunately, my grandfather''s family had fled Russia in 1914, just three years before revolution took place. So my grandfather wound up on Ellis Island, one young -fourteen-year-old boy among millions who saw the Statue of Liberty, with its welcome to those who were "tired, poor," and "yearning to breathe free." And like those millions, he immediately set to work becoming an American, to building a life in the land of the free. He ran a fruit stand in Brooklyn, New York. His life wasn''t easy, but he never stopped working, he never stopped striving, and he passed down his values-and his love of his adopted country-to his children and grandchildren. Two generations later, one of those grandchildren of the fruit peddler was arguing cases at the Supreme Court of the United States. I think of my grandfather every time I''m in the high court and I hear the words "Mr. Sekulow, we will now hear from you"-the grandson of Schmulik Sekulow arguing before the most powerful court in the world.

You can call it many things, but I call it American exceptionalism. America is an exceptional country, and my family''s journey is a symbol of that exceptionalism. My family overcame the odds, moving from fruit peddling to the Supreme Court in just two generations. But we overcame the odds in part because we were in America, a land of unprecedented opportunity and liberty. And of course my family is not alone. Look far down virtually any American family tree and you''ll find an immigrant family who came here against long odds and fought to build a better life. And these families succeeded in building a free land that is the most powerful, most prosperous, and most secure in the history of the earth. That is exceptional.

Sadly, however, when we speak today of "American exceptionalism," many on the Left will roll their eyes. They''ll recount stories of America''s past sins, or they''ll do what President Barack Obama did and dismiss American exceptionalism by saying that of course we think we''re exceptional, but so do the citizens of every country.1 To these critics American exceptionalism is nothing but misguided parochial affection, no different than the pride sports fans feel in their local team. But this is wrong. American exceptionalism isn''t merely a -garden-variety case of national pride. Nor is it a blind love of country. No one thinks America is sinless. After all, the phrase is American "exceptionalism," not American "perfection.

" If American exceptionalism isn''t American perfectionism, then what is it? Was Thomas Paine, the great American patriot, right when he declared, "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind"? I believe he was. Think about my grandfather. He was certainly not an American when his family fled Russia, where they faced certain persecution and possible death. But he was not without hope, because of America. In every war or disturbance, there are refugees, and there are nations that take in refugees. But my grandfather was no refugee. He was fleeing, yes, but he was fleeing with his family to a fresh start-a place where he could reinvent himself and in a sense rewrite his family history. The course of my family''s destiny for generations was impacted by the decision of my great-grandparents.

They came to a place where they had a true hope for a new life. They came to America. I have long believed that America''s exceptional nature is a function of the symbiotic relationship between the nation''s peoples and the nation''s laws. I think of America as a nation with a great people matched with a great system of government. Note well that I did not say "great government." Sometimes we''ve been led by poor governments, but always the system-our constitutional system-has allowed us to persevere and, ultimately, prosper. It may be apocryphal, but I love the story of Benjamin Franklin''s admonition following the end of the Constitutional Convention, in 1787. As the tale goes, Dr.

Franklin emerged from Philadelphia''s Independence Hall and a woman asked him, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" His response? "A republic, madam. If you can keep it." The simple Webster''s definition of a republic is "a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law."2 But our government is not just a republic, but a "constitutional republic." The law that governs our nation is defined and limited by a constitution, and in our case the Constitution is designed primarily to guarantee the liberty of our citizens and limit the power of government over our lives. In other words, Benjamin Franklin''s short statement spoke volumes. We formed a government for a free people, for a people committed to liberty. And to keep that government the people had to be dedicated to preserving it.

For most of our history, Americans have not only been committed to "keeping" our republic, but to improving it-spreading freedom and liberty to those who weren''t permitted to enjoy it fully at our nation''s founding. And our republic has since allowed a free people to flourish, and the free people have continually pushed the government to protect their liberty and their primacy in our constitutional system. By preserving in the Bill of Rights our rights to free speech, to religious liberty, and our right to petition the government for the redress of grievances, we put in motion the mechanisms for immense positive change. It''s through the exercise of those rights that we were able to move past slavery and Jim Crow, grant women the right to vote, and preserve a host of American liberties through war and peace. The system of checks and balances prevented our president from becoming a monarch, the Supreme Court from becoming an oligarchy of unelected judges, or the Congress from becoming-at worst-something like France''s out-of-control National Convention, where mob rule brought ruin to a revolution. It''s a system I''ve dedicated my life to preserving and defending. As I said before, I began that defense as a public servant within the system, working for the Department of the Treasury, Office of Chief Counsel, for the Internal Revenue Service. Yes, I worked for the same agency that is now best known in the conservative movement for launching a targeting campaign that has persecuted thousands of President Obama''s political opponents.

But when I worked there, it was a very different time. I started in 1979, during the tail end of the Carter presidency, and left early in the Reagan administration. I remember those days well. We did our jobs, we enforced the tax code, and political discussions or considerations were simply not part of our job. Even though the IRS was unpopular (when has a taxing agency ever been popular?), I was proud of the work that we did, honored to work with outstanding lawyers on both sides of the political aisle, and felt that I''d done at least some small part to work honestly and efficiently to support a constitutional structure that had done so much for me and my family. After gaining that valuable experience, I left the IRS and launched out on my own, eventually doing more than I ever imagined I would to defend our Constitution, to defend that system that helps make our nation truly the "hope of the world." In Supreme Court case after Supreme Court case, I defended individual liberty. I was honored, along with key partners, to found a law firm, the American Center for Law and Justice, that has by now filed hundreds of lawsuits and written thousands of briefs to defend our Constitution.

Through victories large and small we''ve even been able to expand liberty in key areas, including in schools, in the workplace, and in our nation''s public spaces. But now that system that we''ve defended so vigorously is under threat. In fact, our very constitutional democracy is at stake. I do not choose my words lightly. Th.