Gene Jones, President, Florida Veterans for Common Sense, shares his thoughts for July 4th on patriotism.
Thoughts for July 4th on Patriotism
On this July 4th, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On that fateful day, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress adopted the ideas in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense that government should be derived from ‘We the People,’ not a king claiming divine authority.
Yet the declaration did not make us a free country. We first had to defeat the British in our war of independence and then establish a durable framework for our new government.
In 1783, we defeated the British, but had not yet learned to govern ourselves.
Our first attempt was a loose confederation of independent states under the Articles of Confederation that proved to be inadequate. After years of turmoil, we scrapped that system in 1789 when we adopted the Constitution. Under it, states yielded some powers to a federal government of ‘We the People.’
When asked what form of government the Constitutional Convention had created, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”
And keeping it was never easy. In 1812, we went to war with Britain. It nearly ended in disaster. The British invaded and burned the Capitol and White House. Yet, somehow we held on until we reached a stalemate. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent that in essence restored the status quo before the war.
Fighting to Save Freedom
Although we had formed a government under a Constitution, it had a fatal flaw. Despite the fact that the Declaration declared that all men are created equal, the Constitution permitted slavery.
That contradiction festered for more than seventy tumultuous years as abolitionists and slave owners struggled for primacy. In 1860, the conflict ripped our government apart when South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by ten additional states. A bloody civil war resulted, which came close to ending the United States as we know it.
On July 3,1863 at Gettysburg, rebel troops launched Pickett’s Charge against the Union army lines. A handful of rebel troops breached the line, but it held.
Had that attack succeeded, the war could have turned in favor of the rebels. Instead, General Lee’s rebel army had to retreat on July 4th. Gettysburg became the high-water mark of the Confederacy. After the loss at Gettysburg, the most effective Confederate army never regained the initiative before it surrendered in 1865.
Nation Under Threat
The nation faced another existential threat in 1941 when fascist Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Four days later fascist Germany declared war against us.
We fought a two front war for almost four years until Germany and Japan surrendered unconditionally in 1945.
These trials, both domestic and international, confirm Franklin’s prophetic words. He understood that self-government requires eternal vigilance. He also understood that ‘We the People’ have the power to improve the nation so that all can have the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
History proves that despite flaws, we have progressed toward a more perfect union. We abolished slavery, expanded civil rights, helped others win democracy, and built one of most prosperous countries in the world.
Grave Challenges
Today, we face grave challenges. Disparities in wealth and power are now greater than during the Gilded Age. Tragically, we once again initiated a ‘forever’ war that weakens the nation.
More troubling, some people have lost the faith in our ability to govern ourselves. They believe the democratic experiment has failed. Their loss of faith and faltering patriotism can kill our democracy as they seek to suppress the vote and reject democratic norms. They’d replace our government by ‘We the People’ with rule by a kinglike strongman anointed by God.
We reject that vision. We believe the shortcomings of democracy can be corrected with more democracy—not less. The United States has endured for 250 years because citizens have always picked up liberty’s torch. For the nation to continue, we must do the same. On this 250 year anniversary, we have confidence that ‘We the People’ will rededicate ourselves to our democratic values and freedoms. We can overcome today’s challenges. We will defeat oligarchs or would-be tyrants.
Like Thomas Paine we believe that we can “give the world an example of good government…” And in his timeless words, “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.”
Standing for these principles is true patriotism worth celebrating.
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