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.