I'm Still Proud to be an American

 

One of the big stories over this holiday weekend was about the erosion of pride in America by its citizens.  According to Gallup, only 38% of our citizens are “extremely proud” to be an American.  That is the lowest number for that measure since Gallup began this survey back in 2001.  At first, this number left me a bit depressed, but then I asked myself – has our history changed?  Have we just recently learned about the Civil War, Jim Crow or the assassination of Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy?  Have we really lost freedom?  Has the sedition act of 1918 been reenacted, denying Americans the right to criticize our country?  The answer to both of these questions, thankfully, was no.

Our history hasn’t changed at all.  It is just being taught differently.  Gone is the balance where our children learn about the amazing evolution our country has gone through as a result of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers as well as the challenges and missteps that we have experienced along the way.  Today, media concentrates on the negative and constantly proves Abraham Lincoln’s famous adage – If you look for the bad in people (or countries) expecting to find it, you surely will.

Every country has its warts – China, France, England, Russia, etc.  Our country does also.  I could argue we have fewer warts than these countries, some of which continue to have HUGE problems even today.  Compared to these countries, America has a much shorter and actually a more laudable history.  I won’t even get into how we fought a bloody Civil War to end slavery here or how we saved Europe (twice).  I also won’t talk about how we put a man on the moon and established to world’s greatest economy which accounts for over 24% of the world’s GDP while representing only 4% of its population.  Instead, I will take you back to the amazing founding of our country.

Our country did not begin in 1619 as some suggest, but in 1776 with a Declaration of Independence from England sent to the King of England at the time, George III.   Thomas Jefferson, possibly our smartest President, included in that document the key principles on which our country was founded.  The first principle was that, that “all men are created equal”.  Even though he knew that was not true at that time, he was committing our country to reach that standard over time.  The second principle that Jefferson espoused was that “we are endowed by our creator (not the king or any government) with certain unalienable rights, (and) that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.  These principles empowered our citizens and delivered the greatest country this world has ever known.

For the next 10 years our country was guided by this document and the Articles of Confederation.  Then, in 1787 a miracle of wisdom and compromise occurred in Philadelphia called the Constitutional Convention.  At that time, 55 of America’s most discerning men attended the convention to pound out a framework that would shepherd the people who would run our government, and POUND they did.  There were many contentious issues in that day.  Big states and small states fought over what our Congress should look like.  This led to the establishment of our bicameral Congress with a House of Representatives, driven by population, and the Senate with equal representation.  There were commerce issues between manufacturing states and agrarian states, and of course states rights, in light of this new federal government, was a very thorny issue at that time.  Many of the 55 delegates even refused to sign the finished document until a Bill of Rights was added in 1791.  

This sense of compromise is something that we have lost recently and must reacquire for the good of our country.  Let’s take the issue of abortion as an example.  When our current Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade recently, which even Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have supported, rather than search for a solution, Democrats in particular began spreading misinformation, hate and even violence.  What we need now in this case is a spirit of compromise that existed at the very beginning of our country.

I, for example, am unapologetically pro-life, but I at least can admit that I understand the concerns of the other side.  Thus, I support exceptions for rape and incest and the life of the mother.  I even understand the “regret” some women might have when experiencing an unwanted pregnancy.  This is why I still support Bill Clinton’s well know position on abortion, which is that it should be “Legal, Safe and Rare”. I would accept, for example, early stage abortions (maybe 15 to 20 weeks) after the woman involved was informed of all of her options, including adoption, and has been presented an ultrasound image.  

Don’t tell me that the radical pro-abortion supporters can’t understand the concerns that millions of Americans might have about ending the life of a baby in the birth canal after nine months of gestation.  We, as a country, need to stop listening to these extremists and come together to develop compromise solutions that work for the entire country and not for the fringe elements of either side of our political spectrum.

The good news is that the fanatics are losing.  People are flocking to states like Florida to escape the “woke” mobs and even companies like Netflix have begun to tell their “woke” workers to get a different job if they continue to be offended by virtually everything.  The other good news can be found a little deeper in the Gallup poll that I referenced in my opening paragraph.  While only 38% of Americans are “extremely proud” of our country, another 27% are “very proud” and 22% say they are “moderately proud” of America.  Only 4% of our citizens are “not at all” proud of America, and this is with the media and politicians doing their best to run down our country day in and day out.  America is still the greatest country on earth, which is why millions of people are pouring over our southern border to get here.  If you have money to spare – Bet on America.