Happy Birthday, United States!

[Stinky The Clown]

Let me start with a fact that, for me, has been unwavering: I Love This Country.

I DO put my hand on my heart when I hear the national anthem.

I DO stand respectfully silent when it is played (I really am incapable of singing ).

I DO recite the Pledge of Allegience, again, with my hand on my heart.

I DO get choked up, even still, when I see a flag being raised, when I hear patriotic music, when I first enter monuments or sites that celebrate our history and heritage.

I DO feel proud of having volunteered to serve in her Navy.

I DO believe in her basic precepts: all men are created equal, and all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I DO perform my civic duties. I vote. I serve jury duty. I pay my taxes. I am law abiding.

I DO thank this great country for all she has given me.

We can argue about political issues another time. We can speak to the ills our country suffers still. We can work to turn the country more toward the direction we each personally favor.

But for today, we should all be joining together, with one voice, to say Happy Birthday, America.

The refrain of Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land has been on my mind, for some reason. Even as I hear all the other patriotic music of the day, my mind's ear goes back to that.

This land is your land, This land is my land,
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and Me.

As I went a-walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
All around me a voice was a-sounding;
This land was made for you and me.

There was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said "Private Property"
But on the backside it didn't say nothin'
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling;
the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling.
A voice was chanting, the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, This land is my land,
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

True enough, it doesn't give our whole story, but the song's refrain, its essence, seems so right: This land was made for you and me. Not the mountains or the sky, but the nation. At first in a flawed way by the founding fathers, the construct of the country has continued to evolve, as it is doing most contemporaneously the recent Supreme Court decision.

This land was made for you and me. And you and me, whoever you are, can work to make it better still. We need to make it better still. That is our gift to the country on her birthday. A resolve to make her even better. That means all ideologies need a seat at the table. And they need to respect each other, talk to each other, with open hearts and minds. That's our job.

Happy Birthday, United States!

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. .

[CountAllVotes]

2. We Will Never Forget

Made "citizens" of the USA on June 2, 1924. How fucked up is this exactly anyway?

[Stinky The Clown]

4. That is but one of the dichotomies through which this country had to work.

As said in the OP, the nation had a flawed founding and has remained flawed, even as we work to right our wrongs.

What was the point you were trying to make (in the context of the OP)?

[ChazII]

3. But for today, we should all be joining together, with one voice, to say Happy Birthday, America.

I agree. We need to find the views we have in common and then we can work on our differences. For this one day let's find those values that we share and leave the other 164 (165 for leap year) to debate our differences.