There are three major holidays that can be viewed as overtly patriotic celebrations, each set aside to honor a specific group. Memorial Day honors the smallest of those groups, those who paid the supreme sacrifice to sustain our country, its ideals, its future. The second such holiday, Veterans Day, honors all who served to defend our nation through military service.
Then there is Independence Day, the most inclusive of the patriotic holidays in the sense that it is a day for all us to celebrate the great fortune entailed in simply being an American.
There are, presently, about 320 million Americans and while the individual contributions made to preserve, protect and promote our country may vary, we are all equally American and equally entitled to the rights and privileges that title affords. That journey toward equality, as both distant are recent history informs us, has been a long, continuous and often contentious one.
But if we accept as fact that being American entitles us to certain rights and privileges, we must also recognize that we are equally bound to the obligations that accompany them.
When we think of our obligations to our country, we most often consider the service provided by the men and women who serve in our military, and rightfully so. Yet while the vast majority of us are civilians, we are no less obligated to perform out duties as citizens.
When we pay our taxes, obey the laws of a civil society, come to the aid of our fellow citizens in their hour of need, we are fulfilling our on personal contract with our nation.
Likewise, when we take the time and trouble to be well-informed about the issues we face and when, as informed citizens, go to the polls to express our views on those issues, we are meeting our obligation to our nation.
It should be remembered that 239 years ago, our nation’s founders gathered in Philadelphia to make the decisions that would not only create our nation, but shape it and define it for generations to come. At the time, their actions were considered broadly as nothing short of treason and the debates that preceded that first founding document, The Declaration of Independence, were fierce and passionate. That these intelligent, strong-willed men, with so much at stake, could reach agreement on so grave a matter is even more astounding today when you consider the conduct of our government these days. Our current leaders can’t even agree on what time to take lunch, let alone make a decision like that of 1776 which would alter world history like few things have before or since.
From the local to state to national government, we often lament the performance of those chosen to represent us in making the laws that govern our society.
But it is worth remembering that these men and women are a reflection of our collective will. They are put into office by the people and the people are ultimately accountable for their performance.
The better informed we are and the more determined we are to go to the polls and vote as informed citizens, the better quality of people we will put into those positions of authority.
So if we are dissatisfied with the performance of our elected leaders, we must accept the undeniable truth that, as Shakespeare long ago noted, “the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
Saturday, as we celebrate the blessings that being Americans provide on Independence Day, let us also soberly reflect on how well we are meeting the obligations that come with the great privilege of being Americans. Let us then vow to be more worthy of our favored status.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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