By Michael Goldman

Thirteen days ago, we as a nation were once again reminded that there are people who just don't get the United States.

Sadly, it's easy to see why.

Living in a democratic republic dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of the weakest and least empowered individual or group in our midst, even when the momentary passions of the majority would demand otherwise, is a concept few other nations of the world share.

The truth is, America became the country we are today because the extraordinarily complex and convoluted form of government created by our founders survived and thrived beyond their wildest expectations.

To see how unique we really are, one just has to board a plane and fly to, say, Tokyo, Japan.

Upon arrival, take a bus or cab to any elementary school inside that city or, better still, to any similar elementary school located anywhere in Japan.

Chances are, no matter what school you visit, you'll find classes made up of 99 percent Japanese children.

Not surprisingly, you'll find students who not only look like one another, but also students who share the same religion, history, language, myths, heroes, food, clothing and, most important, cultural values with each other.

Yes, some will be rich while others poor; some urban, while others suburban or rural; and some will be better educated, have parents with better jobs, or live in larger homes.


But like Iceland, where the vast majority of people are Icelandic, or Pakistan, where most of the citizenry are Pakistani, Japans great strength comes from the things that make the people who reside there all the same.

The great strength of the United States has been its ability to take the people who arrive here from Japan, Iceland and Pakistan and to absorb them into the existing mixed culture created first by the early English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Mexican, African and Native American inhabitants, and later by the Chinese, Irish, Italian, Eastern European, Puerto Rican, German and Scandinavian arrivals.

The faces of the elementary-school children in Lowell and the surrounding communities are a mosaic of the world, not the face of any single nation, race or ethnicity. The diversity of those faces is the magic of America the marathon bombers couldn't see.

America has worked because miraculously, and not without some serious and bloody bumps along the way, we have chosen to be tolerant of others who are tolerant of us and to respect others who respect us. There are more interracial, interfaith and transnational unions today in America than at any time or in any other country in the history of the Earth.

And then, of course, is the miracle of the universal right to vote.

If you're a fifth-generation American who is male, rich, liberal, well educated, not very religious, and you live in Dracut, you can vote for or against, say, Betsy Murphy for local school committee in two days. If you are a woman who just became a citizen in 2013; are working poor; educated in your native land; very religious and very conservative but also reside in Dracut, you get the exact same ballot and can also choose to vote for or against the same Betsy Murphy.

How remarkable is that?

Your race doesn't matter, nor your gender, ethnicity, income, or length of residency.

Thirteen days ago, two voices who didn't believe in either tolerance or the ballot box made their voices heard through loud explosions that reeked of intolerance.

The rest of us on Tuesday -- be you Republican, independent or Democrat; be you conservative, moderate or liberal; be you a resident of Dracut or Lowell or Tewksbury -- can make even a louder noise by taking a moment out of your day to vote for any of the five candidates running to represent you in the U.S. Senate.

The five candidates have made the sacrifice to run.

They represent the best of America by putting themselves out there, working for your vote and pledging to the best of their ability to represent you in Washington.

Tell the bombers throughout the world that our votes in Massachusetts speak louder than any bomb they can plant.

Vote on Tuesday.

Michael Goldman is president of Goldman Associates in Boston.