If We Can Keep It

By Edna Peirce Dixon

July 4, 2024

Long ago, after our children were raised and before the internet, cell phones, and social media, my hubs and I used to celebrate the July 4^th holiday by going to hear an evening of patriotic music played by our local symphony orchestra in a peaceful outdoor setting. Each year the concert ended with the 1812 Overture to accompany a thrilling fireworks display. Though sweltering hot, the experience was well worth the discomfort. Now, being of an advanced age, we stay at home, maybe watch some of the festivities on TV if we can stay awake long enough.

Now I suppose wet-blanket malcontents may have always been around, but thanks to my having more time to observe and the “in your face” screamers on social media as well as the ever-present “news cycle,” I cannot help but see the presence of so many bitter people with negative attitudes. Many diatribes seem to be based on passionate emotional perceptions of the great wrongs of our country’s past. It seems as though they would rather fight old battles over again than put history in context, learn from it and do better. Seems to me that rather than creating more negative history, working out our problems thoughtfully is the only way to grow as a nation unique in the world. So yes, it comes as a shock to learn that bitterness born of emotion over reason extends to many of our most treasured American celebrations including Independence Day.

As for me, in spite of the negativity and bitter lessons of the past, I choose to celebrate by reflecting on all the positive changes and opportunities we as Americans have gained just during the past 90 years within the memories of our lifetimes. We’ve lived through so many stages of growth – every decade has had its share of ups and downs and struggles with all the age-old foibles of being human. Between us, as children, we’ve personally endured the loss, sacrifices, and terrors wrought by the great depression and WWII, the end-all of brutal wars. We’ve experienced poverty and injustice first hand.

We have lived through an endless array of religious, racial, and economic conflicts. We’ve lived with racial segregation knowing even then it was not right or fair. We’ve also lived through school bussing, the well-intentioned forced integration which created even deeper racial conflict. Now, well into the 21^st Century, we’re witnessing the unintended consequences of government force which in essence destroyed vibrant black communities across the country, all of which served to deny generations of children a strong and proud racial identity.

For all of our lives we’ve witnessed ever-present, ever more powerful crooked political machines grinding away, turning a blind eye to the vision of our founders. We have watched our system of government degrade over decades into the pitiful, manipulative struggle for power we are now experiencing. We’ve lived through it all and even though I know very well the younger generations don’t give a rip about anything this old woman thinks, says or does, I will still celebrate with a heart of gratitude for we have witnessed how far we’ve come with our wonderful experiment as a Republic, however flawed and imperfect.

America, as envisioned by our forefathers somehow endured fairly intact into my lifetime. However slowly and painfully, I can see how amendments expanded that vision to embrace the natural rights of all human beings – women, Natives and all people of color – who were denied this basic right in that earlier time and culture. Though imperfect and always a work in progress, that self-same vision has lifted more people of all cultures, races, genders and religions to a higher level than any in the history of the world. Throughout our history, immigrants who have sacrificed everything to get here for a better life know this to be true.

Our ancestors, be they immigrants who came in search of a better life, or the indigenous peoples whose ways of life were forever changed by relentless expansion, or slaves who suffered and died in bondage – we, together, are the foundation of our unique blend of cultures in this great Republic. We must ask what would our ancestors truly think of their ungrateful descendants who do not even appreciate the price paid and the role they played in giving all future Americans life?  As a woman, for years I have been appalled by the militant feminists who so dishonor the legacy of the strong women whose shoulders they stand on and ridicule their sisters who choose to be full-time mothers. In their zeal to compete in a world dominated by men they seem to have forgotten what their foremothers always knew: that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” and raising children is the hardest and most important work of all.

Maybe it’s because of social media, but it seems to me that too many today seem to be too ignorant or bitter about the wrongs of history and too complacent to deeply consider every point of view on particular issues of the day. We talk the talk about love and gratitude, but how many even recognize the many blessings we should be grateful for? Those with strident, angry voices seem to have little stomach for seizing opportunities and taking on the responsibilities of living as free as humanly possible. Yes, too many suffer economic hardships that at the root were caused by political decisions, yet seem to be blinded by the long-debunked false promises of some impossible utopian world made by the very same politicians. Ignorance of history along with media-generated hatred and jealousy has reached such epic proportions that too many fail to see the bigger picture or the ever-growing power of larger and larger government control of every aspect of our lives.

America’s founding fathers warned that no self-governing democracy could last unless its leaders – and by default, every individual who chooses those who would lead – maintain the highest level of personal integrity and responsibility. Before the ink was dry, Benjamin Franklin expressed his doubts: “We have a Republic if we can keep it.” Nobody ever said it would be easy but our freedoms demand that every individual of every background in this diverse melting pot must take personal responsibility for their own role.

Living in freedom as the founders envisioned, means limited government control of a very narrow list of responsibilities – basically the common good to protect citizens from outside threats and from one another. Self-governance demands much from us all as individuals.

• Unless every American learns to live and let live peacefully with all due respect for the inalienable rights of their neighbors,
• Unless every American strives to take the initiative to reach for the opportunities in front of them with a grateful heart,
• Unless every American is willing to take the personal initiative to reach out with a helping hand to the old, the sick and wounded, the disenfranchised, and those who for one reason or other are unable to help themselves,
• Unless every American demands that our elected officials learn to govern within the confines of their enumerated power, that they do their jobs and refrain from delegating powers to unelected bureaucrats,
• Unless every American demands that the judicial branch of government be peopled by servants of the highest integrity who not rule from the bench based on personal political ideologies, Unless every American demands that our political parties commit to acting in the best interest of the people rather than engaging in endless unethical maneuverings intended to wrest power from the other party,
• Unless every American learns to distinguish between professional investigative journalists who give impartial, unvarnished reports and those who report personal opinions serving only as apologists for or even the propaganda arm of political ideologies,

Then I fear our great experiment in freedom can not last much longer. When we the people cave in to the allure of a life free of personal responsibility, when we stand and cheer when government promises to meet our every want for “free” even if it requires enslaving our neighbors at the point of a government gun, we are essentially ringing the death knell of freedom. As we have relinquished our rights, one by one, over time, government has stepped out of its constitutional boundaries to fill the void just as Benjamin Franklin foresaw.

There will be no room for crying when every aspect of every life will be under the control of some great bureaucracy that wields all the power and controls all the wealth. The Republic will be dead and we will all return to some form of feudal servitude. Save for the gentry at the top, everyone else will adapt to centrally planned mediocrity and struggle until enough become fed up. Then as the hunger for freedom grows stronger and stronger, bold men and women will rise up and the cycle of revolution will begin again here in America just as it has all over the world throughout time. This is the lesson of history.

Both individually and collectively, we Americans are among the most capable, intelligent and generous people in the world. So the question is, before it’s too late, what are we going to do about it?

The only thing I know for sure is that until I know everything, I know nothing. epd