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BOOMER’S JOURNAL:
My Country Right Or Wrong? Let’s Talk
by Tom Anselm
So next week is the celebration of the 242nd birthday of this good-old US of A. Well, old but still a relatively young nation, in comparison to some of the other powerhouse countries in today’s world. There’s Germany, England, France and heck, all of Europe and Asia going way longer than this fledgling experiment.
And like any such experiment, there have been some starts and stops, bumps in the road if you will, in its progress. Just start with the beginnings.
Who would have given points on the possibility of a bunch of farmers and citizen-soldiers armed with hunting muskets and some cannon getting the world’s greatest military juggernaut to say “uncle”… as in Uncle Sam. Sure there were a lot of extenuating circumstances to that victory, not the least of which was mismanagement by the British leaders, a growing distaste in England for war in general and France seeing a chance to stick it to their historic enemy through helping the youngsters in the colonies.
But in the end, many historians say that it was the juxtaposition of George Washington with a force of men who would just not quit that turned the game. It was a moment in time that will forever be looked at with wonder. However, along the way to 242, there were some things that, looking back, we cannot be proud of:
The near-annihilation of the Native American tribes along with the literal stealing of their lands.
Robber barons seeking profits on the backs of the working class.
The great abomination that was slavery, and the resulting internal civil war that killed more Americans, by battle-dead and illnesses, than any other war involving Americans combined.
But when speaking of war, what if there were no United States of America involved in that War to End All Wars in the early part of the 20th Century? Or that other conflagration that was never supposed to happen, a few decades later? One wonders what the world would be like if those global conflicts had not seen the contributions of American resolve and resources, human and otherwise.
And we have not always seen the best in our governments. There have been some great national leaders, and some real stinkers. More than a few presidents have disgraced the office by their misdeeds, legal and moral. On the other hand, there also have been more than a few who have been the right man for the job, at the right time, and performed outstandingly amidst incredible opposition and internal chaos.
Plus, there has always been vitriol in politics, from the earliest days of the nation on. Heck, a vice-president shot and killed a treasury secretary just about this time of the year in 1804! Now-a-days, assassination comes in the denigration of character… what an example for our children. Many say the states deserve more power, as noted in the Tenth Amendment’s simple language—“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Others hold that without the federal government to look after our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, we the people would be run over by ruthless entities in search of greater profits as their end goal, and the rest be damned. To be honest, there is some truth to both sides of this debate. I guess this is just another example of the special gift of foresight that was given to those guys who set this whole thing up in the first place back in September of 1787, nearly ten years after the country’s birthday.
Which, getting back to topic, is what we will be commemorating on the fourth day of July. Hanging out at lakes and pools and beaches and backyards, eating burnt pork steaks and gorging on potato salad and corn on the cob and adult beverages, and putting our hearing in mortal danger later in the evening. It don’t get much better for us ‘Mericans. But as the Lee Greenwood song goes, I am “Proud to Be An American.”
Warts and all, terrible mistakes and all, flawed leadership and all. Great accomplishments, heart, charity… and all. Jill’s mom always said it best, I believe, when reflecting on this land we call home. Joan was a philosopher, well read and reflective. She would say, “I ask God all the time why I was so blessed to be born in this country.” I’ll lift a cold frosty one to that, Joan.
