A couple of months back, the Major League Baseball All-Star game was played. As part of the overwrought hoopla, MLB designed special uniforms for the players to wear. Until this year, players wore their own team uniforms for the game.

Whatever the branding wisdom of the move, at least some players weren’t impressed with the design.  When asked about the uniforms, Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson said, “We can do better. We can do better, man.”

He is, of course, correct. We can do better.

But not just about baseball uniforms. His quote is actually applicable to enormous swaths of American life.

Health care? “We can do better, man.”

Public education? “We can do better, man.”

Foreign policy? “We can do better, man.”

Criminal justice? “We can do better, man.”

Race relations? “We can do better, man.”

Politics? “We can do better, man.”

Crime and gun violence? “We can do better, man.”

Cleanliness of my office? “We can do better, man.”

There is scarcely any aspect of American life where we can’t do better. And we should constantly be looking for ways to do so. It’s up to us to fulfill the promise of this nation.

“We can do better, man,” should be carved above the front doors of the U.S. Capitol and every state capitol building in the country. It should be printed on each page of letterhead paper used at the White House, and every federal, state, and local government agency. It should be painted on the doors of every police car in America and it should replace “In God We Trust” as our national motto.

God helps those who help themselves, and its past time that we got to work. All of us. Together. We can do better, man.

September 4, 2021