232

Happy birthday to my country. It’s always easy to remember how old the US is, having been born in the bicentennial year.

It’s such an odd predicament, I think, being a US citizen these days, an odd predicament because I’m at times (many many times) so ashamed of our current government, but there are so many things I’m proud of as well.

On tonight’s World News Tonight (ABC), the person of the week was a man who had served in WWII, and earned the Bronze Star. I couldn’t help but cry, couldn’t help but think of my grandfather, who served in WWII and Korea. He had two Purple Hearts, and lost his older brother in WWII, at Iwo Jima.

I feel like my country has gone so far astray from the ideals for which it claims to stand. I feel like there’s so much separation amongst political parties and belief systems, that we aren’t truly “united.”

It is something I envy about my grandmother’s generation. Regardless of the reasons, the people of her generation were proud of being Americans. They honored the flag. They knew the national anthem. They recited the Pledge of Allegiance in school. They had patriotism.

Is patriotism a good thing? I think that it is, to a degree, but not when patriotism is confused with being religious or pro-war or anti-immigration. I don’t think patriotism has to mean those things, and I think that’s the direction our government has taken during my lifetime. I find it frustrating, because it makes me not want to identify myself as patriotic. I don’t want to be seen as close-minded.

I know that part of the reason behind the strong patriotism of my grandmother’s generation was a lack of information. There was no internet, no easy way to read the current thoughts and beliefs of those in other parts of the world. There was an expectation that one was Christian, except if you were Jewish. There wasn’t anything else, for the most part, as far as Americans were concerned. There was pervasive racism. My family is white, and although my grandmother’s family grew up poor, they still had the benefit of being white in a time when being anything else was looked down upon, or pitied.

But I think there’s an opportunity for a new kind of patriotism today. The US has long been called “The Great Melting Pot” – why can’t we be that once again? Why can’t we stand for acceptance of differences?

I know that our forefathers weren’t all that accepting of differences – they just wanted to be free of England and its oppression. Then they colonized this land and set up their own form of oppression. But, the words – the words from first amendment to the United States Constitution – why can’t we live them?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yes, the founding fathers were Christians. Yes, when they referred to “no law respecting an establishment of religion” they weren’t thinking of atheism. “God” was a given. They certainly didn’t foresee the challenges of religion this country would face 232 years later. For them, it was Protestant or Catholic. One or the other.

Again, the words, from the Declaration of Independence – why is it so difficult to not see that they should still apply, and not just to select people, but to every man, woman and child? And not just Americans, but citizens of other nations as well?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I find it very interesting that the Declaration of Independence explains what so many Americans today have a difficult time understanding – perhaps because they’ve never read or studied it properly? If applied to our current society (as opposed to only white men, as was largely the case when it was drafted)…

• Humans have a RIGHT to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – rights that are to be safeguarded by the Governments of their respective countries.
• The power of Government to safeguard these rights are granted to the Government by the people who are being governed.
• If a Government fails to use its power in the way granted by governed, i.e. if the Government becomes destructive toward the governed and fails to safeguard these “unalienable rights” or, indeed, infringes upon these rights itself, it is the RIGHT of the governed people to alter or abolish such Government, so as to reestablish the safeguarding of their rights.
• The altering or abolition of a current Government isn’t something to be taken lightly by the governed, but is still a RIGHT all the same. (Here, the authors indicate that people are more likely to put up with suffering than to change the status quo, as is typical human nature.) If things get bad enough, it is the RIGHT of the governed to overthrow the Government.

One could say that it is not merely the RIGHT of the people to alter or abolish a destructive Government, but the RESPONSIBILITY.

These words aren’t meant to apply to only a certain class of citizens – it is meant to apply TO ALL CITIZENS of the country – those who agree with the way things are going, and those who don’t. Christians and non-Christians. People of all races. All US citizens.

I’ll expand upon this idea at a later time.

Happy 232nd birthday to the United States of America. May the next 232 years bring us toward being a country of which everyone can be proud, a country which stands for true freedom and truly cares for its citizens, and the world.