My Vision of America

 

It baffles, confounds, and deeply saddens me to hear Americans denigrate our nation. I cannot comprehend; I cannot begin to fathom how any native born, or naturalized American citizen is not able, or not willing, to see this nation for the exceptional idea and nation that it is, and always has been. I think that President Ronald Reagan said it best in his inaugural address: “If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth.” It is that very individual freedom and dignity that sets this nation apart from every other nation in the history of the world and is the bedrock foundation of American Exceptionalism.

My personal concept of myself is deeply intertwined with the concept of America. I am a Christian, American man. My identity as an American even comes before my identity as a man. So much of what I think, so much of what I’ve done with my life are BECAUSE I am an American and have the guaranteed freedom and human dignity personified by being an American.

In my view, my family is America, and America is my family. The history of my family is deeply entwined with the history of my beloved country. The first of my father’s father’s family were in New York before the 1700 census. They came to this country from France for religious freedom. The first of my father’s mother’s family was an early master shipbuilder in colonial New England who arrived in 1629 and built the first vessels in Salem and Medford, Massachusetts. He came for economic opportunity.

The first of my mother’s father’s family came to America in 1750 to escape the horrific.
anti-Semitic violence in Russia; he came for religious freedom. The first of my mother’s mother’s family settled on land granted to them in Pennsylvania by William Penn. They too came to America in search of religious freedom and economic opportunity. I feel the roots of my being going into the very beginnings of this, my beloved country. I am America – America is me. We are the same.

Several of my mother’s sisters were in the Daughters of the American Revolution. At least 1 of my ancestors fought for American independence.  My father’s family split at that time, with some of them going to Canada because the English crown had given them sanctuary when they first escaped from France, and some stayed in America. (The Curse of Cain; but that is a story for another time.) My mother’s grandfather fought at Gettysburg in the American Civil War. My father’s uncle died in the Great War in 1918. My father’s brother crewed on B-17s with the 8^th Air Force in England in World War II and served in Korea. My cousin was a submariner in the Vietnam Era. His son is a major in the Army Special Forces. My own younger son stands on the wall with Customs and Border Patrol. American history runs in my veins like blood; though I may be a lesser son of greater sires, my love of this country burns as hot and bright as that of any of these great and valiant warriors.

America sheltered and nurtured my mother as she grew 3 children in her womb. America gave my father opportunities to feed, clothe, and house his family. America gave me the individual liberty to live out my dreams. She gave me the opportunities to try, no matter how often I tried and failed.

She is my Motherland. She has fed and nurtured my hopes and dreams for nearly ¾ of a century now. She has rocked me to sleep in countless places across the length and breadth of the continent.

America is my Fatherland. America has sheltered and protected me. America taught me values and gave me a code to live by – just as my natural father did.

America is my home. I can travel anywhere in this country and be at home. Americans are my family; I can be anyplace and feel at home. I can go anywhere and feel safe. Home, family, Mother, Father, and refuge – America is all these things to me.

Again, to quote President Reagan, “America is the last, best hope of man on Earth."

Are we always President Reagan’s "shining city on a hill"? No, we have fallen short throughout our history, but the American Ideal remains “the last, best hope of man on Earth." Yet even with our shortcomings, millions of people around the world risk everything to come here for freedom, opportunities, and the chance to create a new life.

Each new generation must re-envision President Reagan’s "shining city on a hill," while holding firm to the fundamental founding principles as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, preserving the “freedom and the dignity of the individual” while fostering and expanding the creative “energy and individual genius of man.”    

No structure, no organization, no building, no nation can be built without a solid foundation. Tomorrow’s American "shining city on a hill" must be built on the rock-solid foundation of the great ideals outlined in our founding documents. If it is not, there will be no great future, no continuation of America’s great past.

I look forward to this weekend’s celebration of the 250^th anniversary of this country. May God continue to bless this country. And may we always be a nation worthy of God’s blessings.