Because We Are Free -- The American Experience

The American experience is filled with incongruity because it is a society made up of different ethnic, philosophical, and religious people. There is but one document that binds us together and that is our constitution. When it no longer matters, when it is changed at the whim of political interests, then the union for which many have fought and died will fracture. 

There is always something that binds people together, and for a nation to stand the core of its unity must prevail. Opposing political and philosophical positions in the United Sates argue, protest, complain, sue, legislate, and relegislate in order to fashion this country according to the pattern of their beliefs. It is their/our right and obligation.

But if any group is allowed to run roughshod over the constitution, is allowed to coop its basic tenants, or allowed to change it because they believe it is no longer relevant then our core will fracture and along with it our unity.

The framers of our constitution made it difficult for the congress and the president to get anything done, not because they wished for impotent government, but because tyranny is easily established when power is concentrated in a single place. No matter how noble an individual the proverb remains true, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

What makes the American experience different then anything else in the world is not its perfection, but its ideals, its belief that all are created equal and deserve the freedom to peruse life as they see fit. Not as anarchists but within the framework of laws that protect the individual rights of its citizens. As a nation we have stumbled and treated individuals and people groups sinfully. We have caused misery and oppression. However this is not the fault of the ideals. It is the application of sinful men who pursue power. It is because of our ideals that we are able to self correct, repent, and make reparations. It is because of our ideals that we pull ourselves up and stand together and dispense justice for all.

WE THE PEOPLE are the recipients of this wonderful gift of self government. We the people have the responsibility to care for its preservation. We the people are in it together and we will stand or fall as one.

The American experience welcomes people from all over the world to join us in our pursuit of these ideals, as long as they are willing to live within the framework of our constitution and laws. This does not make us unsympathetic to the plight of people in other countries. We know that in order for people to lift themselves out of poverty or oppression they must seek ideals that support this aim. For us as a nation to change our ideals to accommodate the ideas of others who come to our shores is to see the crumbling of our core and the collapse of the American experience. We can allow this to happen, and put in its place something else, but the outcome will not be freedom and prosperity. Look around the world.

Today we celebrate our independence, and no matter who you are or where you have come from the ideals that shape the American experience has touched you. We celebrate the ideals, not the flaws. We celebrate freedom, not chaos. We celebrate the individual, who is not alone. We celebrate the rights that are endowed by our creator, not the 'rights' of selfish self promotion. We celebrate the freedom to pursue our dreams unfettered by government control. We celebrate our responsibility to care for the oppressed and down trodden. We celebrate because we are free. I'm just saying...