"Happy 4th of July ...Let Freedom Ring"

"Happy Birthday, America"

I remember 1976 and the huge Bicentennial Celebration like it was yesterday. I was on leave from the Army (a very tough assignment, as a graduate student at Georgia Tech, in "Hotlanta") and back in my home town of Endicott, NY, for the big shindig. This was during the Cold War (remember all that Iron Curtain stuff?) and the doomsayers were predicting that the Soviet Union would select that day to initiate MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)... and launch swarms of ICBM's across the Atlantic... and the rest from their nuclear subs in the Pacific. Ironic, I thought, that they could sail out of the bases we once built and defended in Viet Nam, before we pulled out, having coalesced to the political biases of the times. That pesky old "Domino Theory" had teeth, after all...

But, "Hey," (I feel like John Madden when I say it like that) - The Soviet Union is gone. Now, we get to live in fear of "Terrorists." Frankly, I don't know which is worse, Nikita Kruschev banging his shoe and screaming, "We will destroy you," or all of these diabolical terrorist factions vowing to destroy "The Great Satan." (that would be you and me). Ever wonder why every nation on earth that isn't a democracy "loves to hate" us? One word answer: FREEDOM.

I am a patriot. Did you know that you can be a Democrat or a Republican or a Greenie... or even a 'Tweenie - and be a patriot? That really is an amazing reality about America. This freedom we have... this democracy... is our most precious commodity. President Woodrow Wilson, on 04/02/1917, at the onset of our involvement in WWI, said, "The world must be made safe for democracy." Those simple words have sure kept us busy in the ninety years since they were uttered. And you know what? It isn't going to stop. It isn't going to get any easier to "make the world safe for democracy." Human nature won't allow it. A baby, by its self-preserving nature, is selfish and greedy. As parents, we have to teach them a moral code. Hopefully, we base that code on The Golden Rule. But it's a big, mean world out there beyond our borders. And you can bet that untold numbers want what we have, but are willing to give nothing in return.

President Wilson also said, "America lives in the heart of every man, everywhere, who wishes for a place where he will be free... free to work out his destiny as he chooses." It's a huge responsibility... this "being an American" burden. "Bullies" are everywhere you turn... all over the globe. When we, as a nation, turn our backs on a bully attack... I'm ashamed. Look inward for a moment. When you see someone weak being unjustly tormented, is it your inclination to jump in and help... or think "That's not really my problem?" I jump in. And, as my kids aged 20, 27, 36, and 39 will tell you, it hasn't always been pretty. And through the years I've been "scuffed up a bit," in so doing. But I won't stop. I hope America won't either. The day we pull all the troops home... and build a big fence... is the day we will start to atrophy. "Let them fight their own battles" is a far cry from "The world must be made safe for democracy." I'm sorry, but I fully embrace the idea that, "To whom much is given, much is expected."

Now, a modern day fellow, controversial though he may be, has said a mouthful. Bono, on the Oprah show in 2002, said this: "There is the country of America, which you have to defend, but there is also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea... an idea which is contagious." And how about this gem from the controversial Stanford professor, Dinesh D'Souza: "America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world."

...Don't know about you, but that's worth fighting for. Over and over and over again. Happy 231st Birthday, America. And tonight, when the "bombs are bursting in air"... remember that "our flag is still there." Thank you, God, for continuing your faith in us, as we struggle with this gift you have given...