A Patriot's Faith in the United States of America and Why we are Great

A Patriot's Faith in the United States of America and Why we are Great

    I love the United States of America.  That means different things to different
people.  Because in this place in the World,
our Differences are Celebrated.

We tolerate a lot.  We even tolerate atheists.  We hope they come to faith in God,
because that is what the United States is about, at least to some extent.
Many came here seeking religious freedom, but also political freedom.
Freedom to work, and freedom to move about the cabin at will.

Your own free will and your own personal relationship with God are what we value.   What an individual regards as holy is valued in the United States of America.  And people love it here because you are permitted to go to whatever church you like or no church at all.  Toleration is our Creed.  And no one can presume to stand between you and what you regard as True or Holy.



Now the bad stuff.  We are a political experiment.  We have done some evil on the way to where we are.  A lot.   We have some 'Splain'in to do. We have a lot of things we need to clean up.
But we have also done good.  We stood against fascism and despotism when we helped defeat the Nazi madness which seized part of the world for awhile.

And after that conflict, when we possessed the pre-eminent power of nuclear weapons, and could have dictated to the world that they must all be under our specific control, we did not seek world hegemony, but rather, tried to influence all nations to embrace a system of democratic rule.  Unfortunately, most of the world was just shaking off the bonds of colonialism and many were not ready for our particular style and flavor of a free-wheeling democratic republic.



As I say, I love the United States of America.   I love it because it is my home, my mother and father lived here, and brought me up here, and the Americans I know are some of the finest, nicest people you could ever meet in the world.

And we are generous and naive to a fault. Many of us tend to believe what people tell us.  WE trust people.  We trust people to do what they say they Will do, and to have a moral code of honor.  Because that is how we are.  And we expect others to also be moral.  Because it is the right way to be.
          Doesn't everyone know that?

But there is more depth below the surface and still waters run deep.

Where can I start?  Americans are relentlessly optimistic.  Oh, we can be pragmatic and dour, but most progress comes from foolishly hopeful people with  an idea or dream which may not entirely be rooted in reality.

In other words, we are a nation of Dreamers and Risk-takers in many ways.

We self-selected out when we came here from other lands.  Those of us who voluntarily came here, that is.
Many came here looking for a sense of community and searched for the perfect community here.  So that is a lot of dreams and a lot of dreamers right there, especially because we know there is no Perfect in man's world.

We like to think about the Pilgrims, as our first Americans, but perhaps they are not the most accurate example.
 I would like to talk about what a Real American is, but not just yet.

I would like to acknowledge the good and to admit the bad and get everything out on the table.  As long as we leave anything buried beneath our fears, it will fester and rot and continue to infect us.

Only when we look at ourselves soberly, with some degree of balance and honesty, and allow ourselves to see and to accept everything, will we have any hope of having a community and a more perfect Union.