America the Beautiful
Some thoughts on July 4…
Scrolling through X — the platform once named, and still generally called, Twitter — reveals that many people are, at this very moment, preoccupied with various political controversies and policy debates — controversies and debates about which this author usually cares very much. But today is Independence Day; and for today, those controversies and debates don’t hold much interest.
This July 4th, love America. Love her for the beautiful, hopeful, ambitious, incorrigible, hardworking, fractious, stubborn, indefatigable, opinionated, quirky, weird, imperfect (albeit sometimes ugly), and — most of all — free country she is. The Star Spangled Banner waves yet.
As Calvin Coolidge said, if all men are created equal, that is final. They are, and it is. It was to vindicate this proposition that American was founded; and it is for this purpose she endures. To this, we, as citizens, ought mutually to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Happy Independence Day.