When the Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Ben Franklin legendarily quipped, “We must, indeed, all hang together or we, most assuredly, will all hang separately.” Franklin understood that unity was essential if America was to win independence from Great Britain. Had the patriots lost the Revolutionary War, the British military would have executed their leaders, such as Franklin and General George Washington, for treason.
Unity is still important 242 years later. Independence Day is the one day of the year where Americans come together for a united purpose and celebrate patriotism. People across the country start their day with parades and picnics and end their day with fireworks. Celebrating the red, white and blue brings us together as Americans.
What is concerning this year is the growing anger teetering on violence that we’ve seen the past few weeks in our political discourse. We’ve seen a Congresswoman call for physical pushing, a form of assault.
"Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told a crowd. In response, President Trump tweeted that Waters was “an extraordinarily low IQ person.”
We’ve seen a Virginia restaurant owner refuse to serve a meal to the White House press secretary and her family. We’ve seen an FBI agent show bias and animus toward the president by vowing to “stop him” while starting an investigation of him.
We’ve seen President Trump issue an executive order to reverse the controversial law and policy of separating children and parents at the border. A year ago a gunman shot at Republican lawmakers on a softball field and seriously injured Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Some have predicted a civil war. Late last month, Rasmussen reported results from a poll showing that 59 percent feared violence from Trump haters while 31 percent feared a civil war in the next five years.
Our first president, George Washington believed that unity was the key to America’s survival. He feared that a two-party political system would damage America’s unity if taken to an extreme. He believed that a spirit of revenge could lead to despotism.
When he announced that he was giving up the presidency and wouldn’t run for a third term in 1796, Washington reminded the people that the name American needed to take priority over any other name, designation or label and that patriotism was an unenforceable requirement.
“Citizens by birth or choice … that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations,” George Washington wrote in his farewell address.
If you apply Washington’s call to patriotism to today, he meant that more than any other political name — more than Republican, Democrat, or Independent — we are Americans at our core.
No matter which team we root for — whether for the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Houston Astros or the New England Patriots or Philadelphia Eagles — we cheer for team America first and foremost.
Whatever hyphen we use or box we check — whether we’re an Anglo-American, African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Middle Eastern-American or other — we need to identify as Americans first and foremost.
If President Donald Trump or House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were injured on the side of the road, would we stop to help them?
If we can’t say “yes” or be a Good Samaritan to someone we disagree with — even passionately disagree with — then our culture has gone too far. We are losing our civility.
Winning independence required unity in 1776. The fireworks we see across this country on Independence Day still symbolize that unity. Because of this year’s political divisiveness, we need the respite that July 4 offers us. We need a reminder of how our nation was born and how special it is to call ourselves Americans above all else.
We can be proud Americans today not because of our politics or affiliations but because of our common country and unique but shared identity as the United States of America.
We can be proud that we vote for our members of Congress every two years and our president every four years. We can be proud that our founders traded royalty for representation, which is still the basis of being a proud American today.
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