A Message of Unity for July 4th

Fireworks explode overhead during Fourth of July festivities in West Reading and a fireworks display at the borough’s playground. Photo by Jeremy Drey 04/07/2017

July 4th represents an opportunity to look back at our nation’s founding and to recognize how remarkable it is that the American experiment has survived 248 years.

Today, it seems that America has always been a world power. This status makes us forget the remarkable story of the underdog that allowed the United States to become an independent country.

First we had to shock the world and defeat the mighty British army in the War of Independence. Then our divided states had to come to an agreement on how the new nation would be governed.

Keep in mind that even the Declaration of Independence was not a foregone conclusion in the debate that preceded the event we celebrate today. Americans disagreed on many issues before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Sharp differences of opinion existed as our Founders drafted the Constitution. And bitter disputes over slavery continued throughout our nation’s first century, eventually culminating in the Civil War.

It is helpful to keep this history in mind in this time of discord. One might be tempted to think that there was once a broad consensus in our country before we descended into today’s polarized environment.

The truth is that situations like the one we are experiencing today have happened many times in American history, especially in modern times, in the 1960s.

This is not to minimize the current problems. With each passing year, it seems more and more as if people are living in two different Americas, unable to agree on the most basic facts about what is happening in our country, much less reach a consensus on how to solve our problems.

Discontent is all around us. And we are in a presidential campaign where many Americans are dissatisfied with the choices presented to them.

The fighting continues, and many express their desire to defeat their political opponents. Rhetorical combat is the rule of the day rather than persuasion or attempts to reach consensus. But to what end?

Today, we must look back on our history and remember that through all the difficult times, the nation has managed to survive because Americans finally embraced the idea that we need each other for our mutual protection and survival.

It is foolish to think that we can strike down and silence our political enemies or divide our nation into two separate states, red and blue. The national division is not as clear-cut as many think. Each state has a considerable number of people who hold opinions different from those of the majority. We must find a way to continue to live together without killing each other.

Let us recall that the United States managed to emerge from the Civil War as an intact nation.

Consider the words of President Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address in 1865. At the end of the war, he struck a conciliatory rather than triumphant tone:

“Without malice toward any, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the wounds of the nation, to care for him who has stood in battle, for his widow and his orphan, to do all that may achieve and maintain a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

The nation failed to live up to the ideals expressed by Lincoln, who was assassinated the following month. But his message had an impact. The nation finally came together, and despite serious disagreements, Americans worked together to overcome enormous challenges over the years.

Lincoln’s call for reconciliation has grown increasingly weak in today’s world. Many political partisans regularly express uncharitable and malicious sentiments toward their fellow countrymen who hold different views.

Today, each of us faces a choice: should we try to find common ground or continue to drift apart? The most ardent among us will probably not be swayed, but we suspect that there are many people who yearn for a change of tone.

On this Independence Day, it is time to stop opening our wounds and start healing them.