Being born on July 4th,
making me what composer George M. Cohan called “A Yankee Doodle Dandy,” I’ve
always had great fondness for Independence Day. I wear American flag T-shirts,
we proudly display the American flag in front of our house, and I’m always
stirred when patriotic songs like “Stars and Stripes Forever” are played.
The observance, of course,
commemorates bold statesmen like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin, and Patrick Henry signing documents in 1776 declaring the new
nation’s independence from Great Britain. (Wish I could have been there!) This
act created the United States of America, but 236 years later one has to wonder
just how “united” the U.S.A. really is.
We’re a nation polarized on many issues.
A great divide tears at the very fabric of the U.S.A., with citizens in sharp,
passionate and sometimes vitriolic disagreement on issues ranging from abortion
to firearms, from healthcare to immigration, from sexual preferences to whether
we should be “one nation under God.” We seem more untied these days than united.
How did we get this way?
Over the past several years I’ve
had the privilege of writing two books about successful, privately owned
companies that have now reached the fourth generation of family ownership.
These businesses are among the tiny minority of companies that manage to remain
“in the family” for more than two generations. That’s because it’s not easy to
pass along values, vision and ideals from one generation to the next. Especially
in a complex entity like a company – or a country. These businesses have been
the exceptions.
A “generation” is typically
defined as about 30 years, the span during which children grow up and start
producing the next generation. Doing the math, this would mean the U.S.A. is well
into its eighth generation. Considering how difficult it is to perpetuate a
successful enterprise even to generation No. 4, it’s little wonder our nation is wobbling
with generations 7 and 8.
It used to be “democracy” was
synonymous with being governed by the majority, but in recent decades,
“minority rule” seems to have taken over. Every special interest group is
flexing its muscle, the vocal minority imposing its will on a comparatively silent majority.
Perhaps one factor contributing to this fragmentation is confusing unity with uniformity or unanimity. When the U.S. Constitution
states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal,” that does not mean identical. When it talks about the “inalienable
right” to “the pursuit of happiness,”
this does not imply guarantees or entitlement. The individual carries the
responsibility for engaging in this pursuit. But as a society, we seem to have
forgotten that.
The Bible offers one of the best
descriptions of unity found anywhere:
“If you have any encouragement from being
united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the
Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (Philippians
2:1-2).
Of course, we can’t consider this
as a guideline because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s edict in 1947 about the
so-called “separation of church and state.” This judgment has since become
construed to mean not only that the state cannot impose religion upon the
people, but also that people must avoid any inclusion of faith in the public
square.
Gradually, our nation has drifted
away from a conscious awareness of God’s involvement in daily affairs of
mankind – despite declarations to the contrary by founding fathers like
Jefferson, Adams, George Washington and others. And it seems God, understanding
He’s no longer welcome, has graciously withdrawn. Without a constant spiritual
compass, we’ve acquired a condition described in the Bible as “everyone did what was right in
his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
This description seems apt for where our “tolerant,” politically correct society
today.
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