04 Jul From Sea to Shining Sea

I am a proud and patriotic American. Though my political views have evolved at times through my life, so this is truly not a political statement, that has not changed. One hopes that every American, regardless of their feelings on policy, agrees. Patriotism does not require blind adherence, in fact it requires we never stop questioning and challenging our leaders. It also does not require that we disregard the rest of the world. The globe is too small and getting smaller. We can disagree on how we engage outside our country, but engage we must.

It also does not require that we be proud of everything our Government has done in the 241 years since the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 2nd (discussion for another day), 1776. We can be determined and have the right to speak out to do our best to ensure that future wrongs are avoided and past wrongs are addressed. But no nation will be perfect. It just seems to me that, despite the clunky nature of how this place is run, of all the options out there, the best one is right here. If you disagree, that’s ok. Unlike many other countries, travel ban or no, this one allows its citizens to come and go freely if you like. Or stick around and help make this place even better.

Freedom. It’s not 100% and the different parties when in control try to tweak it, but as the bedrock principle of our democracy it’s pretty much everything. That never changes for me no matter who is in power at a particular time. Please display a flag today. Happy 4th of July to everyone, or as a friend from across the pond labeled it on my Instagram feed today, “The original Brexit!”