Happy Birthday to America
On July 4th our nation will celebrate its 249th birthday! Millions of people all across our great land will wish a Happy Birthday to America! Fireworks, picnics, and family gatherings will mark the occasion as well as parades and political speeches.
It’s hard to exaggerate the importance of our country. Traditionally, we have defended the weak, been a refuge for the displaced, and offered hope to millions of people seeking a better life. While we have not always lived up to our charter that “all people are created equal,” the idea that our Founding Fathers envisioned of a free people has been our guiding light these past 249 years.
There has never been an equal to America in power, wealth, or freedom. Not even the ancient Egyptian, Greek or Roman empires could hold a candle to America’s status as a world leader. Travel to other countries and there you will meet people who see America as a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.
A number of years ago, my son and I spent a month in a small German village studying the German language. In our class were several lawyers from Australia who were also trying to learn the language. One evening they invited us for dinner in their apartment. Our hosts were warm, open, and friendly, and we chatted about a variety of subjects but eventually the conversation turned toward American politics. The conversation went back and forth with both positive and negative comments. But gradually the Australians began to criticize America’s government rather harshly. Not wanting to be rude, since we were dinner guests in their apartment, my son and I listened quietly without entering into the conversation.
Finally, though, the negative rhetoric became a little too uncomfortable for us, and we objected to their sarcastic comments about America. “Look fellows,” I said, “I think you’ve crossed the line. Yes, America has work to do, and we are certainly not perfect, but I’m proud of my country. Remember, we’re still a work in progress.” They immediately backed off and spent the next hour offering apology after apology.
One of the attorneys, rather contritely, spoke for the rest of his colleagues when he said, “Listen mate, we love America. We much prefer America as a world power than anyone else. We can’t even imagine what life would be like in Australia if some other nation took America’s place. We, too, are thankful for America.”
I’ve never forgotten his comment. Even though our Australian friends found fault with America, they were well aware of America’s contributions to the world and were grateful for our global leadership.
In spite of all of our problems, America is a wonderful country with remarkable people. The motto on our currency, “E Pluribus Unum” reflects a marvelous truth about America: People from various ethnic origins, languages, lands, and religions have formed a single citizenry by choosing to be Americans. What ties all the diverse threads together is a shared belief in the U.S. Constitution and that no person is above the law.
As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, storm clouds are threatening democracies all over the world. Countries such as Turkey, Hungary, and Poland are backpedaling from democratic forms of government towards authoritarian governments. Several other European Union members are also in danger of losing their democracies as well. Even in America many citizens seem to have grown weary with a democratic form of government. Are we, too, moving toward authoritarianism? We would do well to remember the adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Without a doubt, democracies are messy and sometimes we can become frustrated with the compromises necessary to sustain our democratic republic. It was Winston Churchill who said that democracy was the worst form of government except for all the other forms of government that have been tried. Like my Australian friends, we, too, may criticize our government from time to time, but at the end of the day there are far more positives than negatives.
I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that our democracy is at a crossroads. For our Constitution to work the way our Founding Fathers intended the three equal branches of government must continually check and balance one another, so that no one branch is more dominant than another. Without the oversight and accountability that our Constitution requires, we may lose our democracy. Benjamin Franklin was spot on when he said that Americans have a republic, but only if we can keep it.
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that an authoritarian ruler was necessary in order to maintain peace and stability in a state. He believed that human beings were basically selfish and brutish and could only survive under the subjugation of an absolute ruler. He wrote in his best known work Leviathan that without a despotic ruler the state would fall into anarchy. He reasoned that the populace was better off fearing one man than the multitudes.
John Locke, on the other hand, a contemporary of Hobbes, disagreed. Locke had a more optimistic view of human beings and believed they had the capacity to govern themselves. He emphasized natural rights that he believed were given by God to all people—life, liberty, and property—and advocated the consent of the governed as the best form of government. Our Founding Fathers sided with Locke and the U.S. Constitution was written largely under his influence.
It appears that many in our country have lost confidence in Locke’s political philosophy and the U.S. Constitution. After 249 years of liberal democracy are we now going to abandon what made America the envy of the world?
