Unum

 America's birthday. I hesitate to make a fuss about "The United States" since I cannot remember a time when we were less so. United, that is. And yes, I am aware that there was a time in our history we refer to as "The Civil War." During that crisis, there was at least a sense that within two competing factions that there was a North and a South and they comprised the sides of the argument. War. 

That is not the case, currently. East, West, North, South. These points on a compass do not describe the deep divides that exist within our nation. Eighteen years ago, a junior senator from Illinois stood up in front of his party's convention and insisted that there was no Red America or Blue America. No Black America or White America. No Liberal America or Conservative America. Just one America. E pluribus unum. United we stand. Four years later that same young man accepted his party's nomination to run for the Presidency. 

Suddenly, it seemed like those words would ring true. 

And before we knew it, we found ourselves in 2016. The Republican party worked to block a potential Supreme Court nominee as the senator-turned-president's second term expired. They kept that for their guy, who went on to run roughshod over the progress made in the eight years before and put his own defining mark on the country. Without ever winning the popular vote. Four years of pushing back against all the ways that this country could be unified. 

All that pushing and pulling tore us apart. Now when we look across the aisle, or sometimes across the street, we don't recognize the people looking back. How can they believe the way they do? How can they really want the things they say they do? What does it mean to be an American at this point in our history? To be deeply troubled by the fishtailing direction of our country and those who we look to for leadership. To be not just concerned by the thought of what might happen next, but legitimately afraid. 

There is an old saw about how history is written by the victors. Sadly, that means the losers in these elections and selections lose their voice. These are Americans being shut out of participating in the decisions that shape our future. 

But the hope that burns most brightly is that of the revolutionary, the pioneer, the iconoclast. The story of our country is full of those who were told "no" but went ahead and did what they were going to do anyway. This is how the United States came to be in the first place. Not by accepting the status quo, but by pushing the agenda of the people. For the people. 

All of us. God Bless Us All.