Opinion: Independence Day should be a time for U.S. to unite
What would the founding fathers of the Unites States think today of the country they helped form in 1776?
What will people 236 years from now say about 2012?
If only there were crystal balls or time machines to answer those questions.
Fireworks will again light up the sky in Lake Tahoe on July 4. Photo/Howie Nave
While we are on the eve of celebrating the birth of this country, perhaps now is a good time to ponder what these United States of America are all about.
Each of the states has a tremendous uniqueness and in its own right could be a country unto itself. Diversity is everywhere – in terrain, climate, political beliefs, economies, and more.
But there is something in all of our originality that binds us as a nation, as a people.
Lake Tahoe News believes it is the richness of our individual differences – as people and states – that strengthens us as a country. While we often pick apart the differences, it is the similarities that bind us.
We are strong. We are individuals. We are thinkers. We are community-minded. We believe in life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Yes, we differ in defining happiness or how to pursue it and even what liberty means.
But take a step back – where else could you go and be able to state your opinion so freely, be so free to disagree with the government, so free to burn the flag that protects your right to burn it?
While no country is perfect, no form of government is perfect, and certainly the people running the country are not perfect, what we have is pretty close to perfection.
If we were all to embrace the good that binds us, wouldn’t that make for less hate, and less pain and suffering?
We are a country that prides itself in singing about bombs bursting in air. What if we channeled that energy into something positive?
Take some time as we celebrate the birth of the United States to look at your neighbors, your colleagues, the visitors in town, everyone and realize we are one people – no matter what we look like or who we vote for. We are the United State of America.
Well said, God Bless America!
God Bless the UNITED States of America! (the operative word being “United”)
Divided we fall.
Does God bless all nations equally or just America? If I believed in a god, he, she, or it would bless everything in existence equally! (regardless of how they felt or didn’t feel about he, she, or it)
God bless the lobbyist that run the country,the rest is History.
That’s the real Truth.
The word diversity has been turned on its head. To me it should be, in contempory lexicon, a dirty word.
The above is claptrap and nonsense and furthering the downhill slide of America.
West: The Balkanized States of America
Commentary
The Washington Times
by: Allen West
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. Photo Credit:AP
Our founders shared a unified vision for our nation. They understood that unity of the many was necessary to uphold the sovereignty of the individual and the fundamental, unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. …
[Today, we] have politicians who would rather divide us based on income, gender or race than unite us as Americans. They want citizens to believe that “all men were created equal” really means “all men are entitled to an equal share.” They want their fellow Americans to believe anyone else’s economic success always comes at their own expense. …
We cannot allow this to happen. We cannot continue to foment and cultivate the divisive rhetoric that threatens to rend the very fabric of our nation. We will not survive with leaders who parade before a cacophony of groups, submitting to their whims in return for their electoral support.
Read more: http://times247.com/articles/west-the-balkanized-states-of-america#ixzz1zl2ptpTc
Diversity is a dirty word to those who fear and deny reality. Those who want the good old days of tolerated bigotry and accepted ignorance are the real cause of the ‘downhill slide’. Let’s allow the voice of the real majority in America to drown out the hate and stupidity and let’s All move forward.
Wake up and read the tea leaves. The future of America is bleak at best. Tell me about diversity in China the next great super power.
Either we hang together or we hang separately.