Happy Birthday USA . . . How Many More Will There Be?

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – This week we celebrate the Fourth of July, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I guess you might say that I’m a patriotic guy: I easily tear-up when a band strikes up America the Beautiful,” and I joined my college ROTC program after landing 344 in the draft lottery — they would have taken candidates with seeing-eye dogs first!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t very much of a soldier; I couldn’t read a map or climb a rope — you know, those kinds of things that soldiers should be able to do well. I did have one accomplishment during my lackluster military career: training as an artillery spotter, the shot I called in actually made a direct hit on the old car body we were circling above.

The instructor in the front seat, a major, turned to me with a big grin on his face, and gave me the thumbs-up. I passed that one. Only problem was the shot didn’t hit the old car I was aiming at. I kept that part to myself; it was my military secret.

But being an undistinguished second lieutenant didn’t curb my enthusiasm for patriotism. I think that goes back to my parents. They both grew up in Philadelphia, and while they brought me to Iowa at eleven weeks, we always took our vacations back “home.” It was there that my dad took me to see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross’ house, and scores of other historical places where the fabric of our nation was first woven.

I stood where Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Charles Carroll, and fifty-two other brave men pledged to each other “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” I was there, not only physically, but in spirit as well. My life in many respects was a product of what they did there.

But patriotism — at least my version of it — doesn’t end with John Hancock and his colleagues signing their own death warrant. It continues to this day, and in that continuation we take on the American legacy, both the good and the bad. Part of each of us is Valley Forge, Antietam, and Normandy, but it also includes John Brown and Dred Scott, the Japanese internment, and lies and indifference to those who first occupied this land.

You see, we must accept our heritage — both good and bad — as part of our national DNA, much the same as we must accept the physical traits we have inherited from our parents. We don’t come out of the womb perfect: We just have to learn to deal with the negatives given to us by our parents: lactose intolerance, heart problems, deformities, and the list could go on.

Like those who have learned from the shortcomings in their DNA, as a nation we must learn from our past shortcomings. Unfortunately, today all too many folks teach that our nation is only a sum of our collective failures with only little or no reference to that which we have aspired. This, of course, does not tell the whole story of our national identity, much as judging a man only by his flaws. It also ignores the fundamental Christian belief that in fault we can find redemption.

The heart of our national being is the document we celebrate this week, for it contains our shared aspirations: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

And that, in summary, is what we have been doing since those words were written in 1776; striving for perfection, falling short, but continuing to strive. Ultimately what we created was a republic where each individual was empowered to live life on his own terms, free from undue governmental interference, realizing at all times that we were still all part of one national and cultural family where tolerance and responsibility were unwritten rules of the bargain.

We must understand that “American” is not an ethnic identity, such as Italian, or Irish. It is an idea that is not only outlined in the Declaration but in most of our founding documents that compose our American Scripture.

Unfortunately, in these days of disunity we have been driven by those advocating — for very sinister reasons — polar extremes and a lack of tolerance. No longer is our political cleavage driven by fiscal policy and the like but by cultural issues that are deliberately designed to divide us into tribes that are taught to hate those who do not give their wholehearted support to our tribe and its allies. It’s a subtle movement, but I think easy to see for those who have eyes and wish to see.

The general phrase we use is “cancel culture,” but it goes beyond simply shutting down dissenting views; it includes ostracizing those holding nonconforming views from society. It includes claiming that the impossible is possible, that boys can become girls, sex is not immutable but should be viewed as a spectrum, and that science is only settled if it is politically correct.

Children no longer belong to parents, but to the village that raises them, indoctrinated with a politically correct curriculum that brooks no challenge no matter how minor.

The authors of this disunion have found political success in pitting us against one another, cherry picking issues from history to claim that we are a nation of white supremacists and neo-Nazis who have succeeded by holding others in bondage and controlling cultural norms to marginalize them. We are corrupt, founded on slavery, for slavery, and the benefit of the white race.

And the unscrupulous members of our political class have found that by treating us as tribal units they can gain a political advantage. Following right behind are modern Marxists who piggy-back on those same issues to weaken the American system. Everything, including our faith in God as well as our faith in ourselves and our institutions, is under attack behind the argument that things were never really that good here.

Of course, I disagree.

I asked in the headline if there will be more birthdays for the United States. The answer, of course, is yes — there will be plenty of more July Fourths. The real question is what will that America look like? Socialists, Marxists, Communists?

That is up to us. We each have a vote and a voice. Along with a lot of prayer we need to use both — loud and often. Those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence knew that if they were not successful they would all be hung as traitors to the Crown. They gambled with their lives to make us independent. We need not risk life or limb to save our nation, but we must be willing to risk something, even if that something is to challenge our own long-held political views.

The challenge today is more subtle than in 1776, but it is no less dangerous. This is America, our land of the free. Let’s not let anyone take it from us.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)