It’s becoming controversial to take pride in America. Some say that a nation stained with injustice isn’t a nation worth celebrating. I would agree with that … if our country didn’t also correct our mistakes. And we do. The objective of a perfect society will never be obtained, so what counts is the direction we move.
Our Founders knew that building America would be a stumbling journey forward, toward our highest principles. And they gave us the greatest possible Constitutional framework with which to do it. Every generation since has been working to advance the American principles of truth, justice, and freedom for all.
Look at what our country has done to right its wrongs. We abolished slavery. We even fought a war to get it done. American liberty has granted women and minorities the full and equal rights of any other citizen. That’s unprecedented in human history. American ideals protect the weak and the marginalized.
Hard work has always been necessary to insure justice, human dignity, and freedom for all. And it always will be. We are a nation defined by values and principles that often exceed our ability to attain them. Yet, we still keep reaching for them. And it’s right that we do.
No one should be defined only by their greatest blunders. Not even America. As French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville said two hundred years ago, “The greatness of America lies in her ability to repair her faults.”
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