Happy 250th Birthday, America
The sights, sounds, smell, and feel of the holiday are unmistakable. The colors red, white and blue adorn houses, mailboxes, clothes, and even paper plates. The aroma of cookout food from the neighbors or perhaps even your own home is sometimes in the air. The occasional pop of randomly set firecrackers in the neighborhood and organized fireworks shows brightly visible in the sky are both a part of the day. Except where I live, it is not until 9:00 p.m. that they can start the fireworks show. Independence Day, aka the Fourth of July is one of the longest daylight days in the year. Why the hype?
This is the 250th anniversary of the creation of this country. The celebration is particular intense this year because the number 250 is divisible into a whole number by 50. I remember the same phenomenon when it was the 200th, a number divisible into a whole number by 100. It was called the bicentennial and I was seven years old. I have vague memories of television being dominated by specials. So why is the Fourth a big deal?
Because in 1776, representatives from thirteen rag-tag colonies made a bold statement. In a world dominated by monarchs and emperors, they suggested they could govern themselves. The famous words by Thomas Jefferson “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” have echoed throughout history for centuries, two and a half centuries to be precise. It’s like this. Suppose my mom buys a BMW at the dealership. I might say “Mom, you got a BMW.” Obviously, I am not claiming that I gave her that BMW. I am simply acknowledging that she has a BMW. It is the same way with our rights. The government does not give us our rights. It is simply recognizing the rights we already have. Furthermore the founders of our country believed that we were given these rights by God. Ironically enough, one of the rights God gives us is the right to not believe in Him.
Indeed there were colonists who had different ideas about the nature of God and what God wanted and even whether God was out there at all. The way the founders saw it, it is impossible to control how people think and any effort to do so was futile. In a bill for the Virginia Assembly to establish religious freedom Thomas Jefferson wrote “God hath created the mind free.” That is why this country scrapped the state churches that the colonies were compelling their residents to support and why we do not have laws based solely on religion. Instead our laws are based on what is best for society.
Not everything the Founding Fathers or the government they created was consistent with the ideals they set forth in the Constitution. The government still does not do a perfect job of upholding the Constitution’s ideals. But those ideals are still great.
So will the United States have another 250 years? Will we see the 300th? I cannot look into the future, but I can glance at the past and learn that no civilization lasts forever. Who will be the last President of the United States? Long after it is gone, the American civilization will be remembered for its brilliant, world-changing innovations in government. But our form of government is not invulnerable. Benjamin Franklin, when asked about what kind of government we had created, replied “A republic if you can keep it.”
We can’t expect a government to govern with compassion, justice, mercy, wisdom, generosity and courage if we do not exhibit those traits ourselves. If people practice hate, prejudice, cruelty, violence, greed and selfishness, the government they elect will inevitably implement those things in its laws. In that case, there will be no more United States of America or if it does exist, it will be something we do not recognize. Or want to recognize.