Some Remain Unthankful
Sadly, this Independence Day, not nearly enough Americans are genuinely thankful for our great country, and for the privilege of living within it. According to a new Gallup poll of over 1,500 adults, taken from June 1-13, only 47% of those surveyed are “extremely proud to be Americans.” As you might suspect, Republicans were apparently twice as “proud” as Democrats polled. But interestingly, and sadly, even during the Obama Presidency, only 56% of Democrats responded that they were extremely proud to be Americans.
Those numbers are disappointing and distressing. We are privileged to live, work, and raise families in the greatest nation ever created, throughout the history of the world. A nation whose brilliant founders, at the risk of their lives and fortunes, proclaimed with these words that “all men/women 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.”
That said, those amazing words, the promise of equality at birth, and the right of liberty, how that many people, regardless of political leaning, can indicate their lack of extreme pride in America is hard to believe. We enjoy greater individual freedom than citizens of any other nation in the world, remembering that millions of people today live under harsh dictatorships where liberty and equality are but distant dreams. We live in a land with endless opportunities for hard-working people to create, to prosper, and thrive. We live in a land that saved the world from tyrannical control in two painful and costly global wars.
Those not extremely proud of our great land need to step back occasionally from today’s headlines, and reflect on the God-given bounty and freedoms we here enjoy. And perhaps also pause to consider this truth. People from around the world are continually at our front door seeking to legally join us, so that they, too, might breathe-in the fresh air of freedom. But rarely do those here actually leave.
As we celebrate yet another anniversary of our nation’s birth, don’t ever forget what a blessing it truly is to be an American.