I Love America!

I love America!

I love America not because she is perfect or more exceptional than any other nation on earth. Quite frankly I love her for the opposite reason:

I love America because like any other nation in the world she is flawed and imperfect yet strives to become better.

My country is not the greatest nation on earth, but she is indeed one of the great ones. American Exceptionalism is a myth yet America remains exceptionally blessed.

I love America because people of faith understand that America was founded within the context of a fallen world. Our Founding Fathers were far from perfect and the spirit of their own day and time heavily influenced them. They were mere mortals attempting to carve out a new nation in a new world. 

It wasn’t always clear to them, I am sure, what the new nation would look like but they tried in spite of their imperfections. I still believe their motives were noble in spite of being flawed.

When Thomas Jefferson penned those famous words, “All men are created equal” did he really mean all people of his time were equal? Or was he referring to white landowners only. Regardless of what Jefferson meant by equality it nonetheless became an enduring ideal within one of our foundational documents, the Declaration of Independence.

People of faith understand what an ideal means. For example, the covenant relationship between married partners should never be broken (except, says Jesus, in the case of adultery). 

This is the ideal!

But not everyone lives up to this ideal.  Because we live in a fallen world all relationships are subject to fail. But we always lean towards the ideal. Yet when our marriages do fail God does not stop loving us. 

 “Love never fails.” 

So by analogy I continue to love my country in spite of the centuries long struggle to live up to that original Jeffersonian ideal of equality for all. God knows it has been a long and hard struggle to get to where we are today, and the struggle continues.

It took an American Civil War to lead to the abolition of slavery. 

I love America because a hundred or so years following that tragic war the Civil Rights Act was passed pushing us closer towards equality for all. Eventually voting rights legislation was passed and also legislature that favored the equal rights of women and more recently the LGBTQ community. 

We are trending towards equality for everyone.

This is why I love America: Just the fact that the struggle continues tells me a lot about the character of the American soul.

Whenever the voice of hatred or fear or paranoia or racism raises its ugly head I become concerned. I become concerned because I believe deep in my core that America is better than this destructive voice whose aim it is to take us back to the past.

America is rapidly becoming one of the most racially and demographically diverse nations on earth. If there was ever a time for Jefferson’s ideal of equality to manifest itself it is now.

I love America because I believe she has the character to push back against voices of division, hatred, and exclusion. 

So when I hear incendiary rhetoric that pecks away at Jefferson’s ideal of equality I become concerned. We have worked way too long in making equality for all a living reality in this great nation to allow destructive voices to set us back.

There is no place in America for any ideology that intentionally excludes others because of race, color, gender or religious preference. There is absolutely no room in this country for discrimination and exclusion of others. There is no place for rhetoric that inspires hate, exclusion, ideas of supremacy and violence.

I love America because I have always believed that our country is one of the most gracious, generous and hospitable nations on earth. I still believe this with all my heart. I believe that the voice of freedom and inclusion will win the day. I believe that in America everyone is welcome at the table; everyone has a voice. 

I actually believe equality in every area of American society will eventually become the norm rather than the exception. In America we can aspire to such lofty ideals.

This is why I love America.

I know that you do too.