The Founders said “We the People” thinking they were being inclusive. Their ‘we,”however, did not include women, nor those without property, nor the native population, nor the human beings they themselves were enslaving. It was like they were sleepwalking through their own revolution.
Sexism, Racism and elitism are like lenses we inherit from our inherited culture. We cannot see our own prejudices because they are the lenses that we are looking through. The term “woke” refers to ending our sleepwalking and becoming aware of systems of oppression hidden in the status quo.
The term “woke” is not a recent liberal concoction. According to a Jon Grinspan article in the Journal of American History, the term was used as early as Lincoln’s “Wide Awake” supporters encouraging Americans to see through the propaganda of the enslavers.
In my opinion, the MAGA movement represents a return to sleepwalking instead of being “woke” to the evils of oligarchy, sexism, racism and American imperialism. The movement may seem like an invincible juggernaut, but they cannot win in the long run because they are sleepwalking through a universal human rights revolution. America may be rich and powerful under Donald Trump, but we will never be truly great until “We the People” includes us all.