The Independence Day Soapbox

(NOTE: I don’t often stand on soapboxes. But every now and then its time to pull it out, dust it off, and climb on up.)

Are you proud to be an American today? I am, and I’ll tell you why.

I’m proud to live in a country that allows us to elect our own government officials and then complain about them. I am not a Bush supporter and there are many things I disagree with our current government about, but I’m ALLOWED to disagree and that is what makes this a great country. I’m tired of people complaining about the President or the government or the politicians as if they have been chosen out of a bag of random names. We elected these people. And then we did it again! I’m tired of my country walking around like victims of their own government because let me tell you about being a victim of your own government. Being a victim of your government is having a leader chosen for you and put into power for as long as they feel like it. Being a victim of your government is not having the freedom to say that you ARE a victim of your government. The fact is, right or wrong, elephant or donkey, we elected our government for better or worse. So stand up, hold your head high, petition your legislators for the change you want to see, and then vote.

Forget for a moment the terrorists threat or the rising gas prices and falling economy, the greatest threat to our country right now is my generation. We’re a generation of people who have grown up hearing people bash their government and country. We’re a generation of people who have not been taught that disagreeing with your leadership does not mean you hang your head in shame of our entire nation. It took 200+ years to create this nation of the free and the brave and in an 8-year span we have come close to tearing that down because we’ve created a generation of people who equate politicians with patriotism.

There are many things that concern me about our government and about our country’s position in the rapidly changing world, but through all those doubts and disagreements, I have remained a patriot. I have never been prouder to be an American because I’m proud to be a citizen of a country who allows me to blog about my mistrust of my President, who allows me the chance to vote for a new President, and who allows me to take ownership of my government.

So today, as we shoot off fireworks and burn ourselves on the grill, lets put aside our political parties, our governmental disappointment, our pointing fingers and blame. Lets celebrate those that are fighting for our country today and, above all, lets celebrate the country that they are fighting for because we are a country that was founded on the principle that we are bigger than our politicians.

My hope today is that we all celebrate not just our independence, but the greatness that is our country. Happy 4th of July.