Lyndon Furst's
A Different Perspective
"The Strength of America"
POSTED 7/10/09
The Strength of America
I write this commentary on the day following our great national holiday to celebrate the birth of our country. Each year on this special day I have a tendency to reminisce on the wonders of my childhood and the celebrations we had in that bygone era. That was a time before the government enacted all the plethora of safety laws to protect us from ourselves and our foolish ways. Early in my teen years I saved all the money I could get my hands on and purchased a large box of fireworks. Nothing pretty - no sparklers, Roman candles or other colorful things - it was all noise. Included was two large sacks of cherry bombs. (For those too young to know about such things, a cherry bomb is equivalent to a small piece of dynamite.) No one in our community got any sleep on the night of that Fourth as my cousin and I terrorized the neighborhood.
But now I have matured a bit and realize that the true meaning of July Fourth is not found in fireworks, even the noisy variety. Nor is it found in other kinds of patriotic noise. Rather, America’s strength resides within the lofty ideals which formed the philosophical basis for the Revolution which eventually led to the formation of our great Republic.
From my perspective, the ideas which form the bedrock of America are found in three great written documents: the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution as amended over the years. The first of these established a self governing community and identified the necessity of individuals to give up some of their personal freedoms for the common good. The second listed the reasons why the colonies were correct in throwing off the yoke of their colonial masters. It also established the equality of human kind. The Constitution provided the framework for a uniquely American self-governance model under a Republican form of government. Even more important, through the first ten amendments, it codified certain natural rights through which individuals are protected from the tyranny of majority rule.
For well over two hundred years now America has struggled to achieve the high and lofty principles enunciated in those wondrous documents. It has been an uneven struggle at times and on occasion an utter failure. Yet, the struggle continues year after year and America continues to be a land of wonder to the rest of the world. The best and brightest from all over the world long to come to America, not because we perfectly exemplify the values upon which we were founded, but rather because we continually strive to do so. That, in my view, is the strength of America.
For some two thousand years there has been no perfect person on this planet. We all have sinned and fallen short. The same is true of institutions and governments. None live up fully to the founding doctrines. From my perspective, the strength of an individual or organization is found in its ability to acknowledge its shortcomings and redirect its energies to the greater achievements of the future. The inability to do so is a sure sign of weakness.
For example, President Obama made a major speech in the Arab nation of Egypt recently. In it, he identified some areas of America’s culpability in its dealings with the Muslim world. He specifically apologized to Iran for the events of the mid twentieth century in which America engaged in the overthrow of the elected government of that country and established an hereditary dictator to rule the people.
Conservative commentators reacted with some degree of anger. One pronounced that he was tired of Obama apologizing for America. It makes us look weak, he said. I disagree with that line of thought. Our ability to admit our mistakes shows the true strength of our national character. A good example of national weakness is the country of Turkey. It has yet to acknowledge the genocide perpetrated on its Armenian population in the early years of the last century. Apologizing for such a terrible act is unthinkable. Their leaders could well profit by the American example.
When we can stand for lofty principle and yet acknowledge our failures we are truly a beacon light of freedom for the rest of the world. That is the true strength of America