“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

–Robert F. Kennedy

As I’ve said before, the loudest voices are the ones being heard in today’s political and cultural circles. Much of what’s said is vitriolic, demagogic, and histrionic. Sadly, those are the very characteristics that garner traction and publicity.

So, on this just the fifth day after our nation’s two hundred forty-eighth birthday, I’m pushing back against some of what I think are the specious things we’re hearing.

I don’t care what they say,

• Regardless of whether Mr. Trump or President Biden wins the election, we will NOT face an existential crisis or become a banana republic. Checks and balances are in place to prevent either scenario, and we’ve survived some pretty weak presidents in our nation’s past.

• The Supreme Court is simply doing its job as a separate but equal branch of government. Although the justices may seem partisan when they rule in a way with which you disagree, the vast number of cases before them are decided unanimously or nearly so. It’s the newsworthy, controversial decisions that get all the press. Of course.

• More about the Supremes: They do their job, constrained as they are to follow precedent. For crying out loud, they do not present a threat to our democracy. The Executive and Legislative branches should try to do theirs, rather than “punting the ball” back and forth while blaming each other, or the Court, for a lack of progress.

• One thing that makes our nation great is its diversity. There are fifty states, and all fifty have different “personalities.” States rights guarantee each state the opportunity to reflect the will of its people. If individuals don’t agree with the politics of their state, they’re free to move. As far as I know, all borders between states are open!

• It is implicit in the word “freedom” that U.S. citizens are free to express their opinion, no matter how much others might disagree … as long as such expressions are within the confines of our legal statutes. That means I can fly my U.S. flag … and bite my tongue when my neighbor chooses to burn his.

• Perhaps less so than in previous decades, this is still a Christian nation. The Congress opens each day’s session with prayer (and boy do they need it!). Open expressions of Christianity are guaranteed … but so are open expressions of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and other religions. We’re also free to express no belief in religion. If we’re going to agree on anything, for Pete’s sake, it should be this.

• Notwithstanding what the Democrats and the Republicans say, neither party holds the moral high ground. We could use a viable, centrist third party that doesn’t consider “compromise” a dirty world. Without it, the “seesawing” and kindergarten-level retribution we get when political power changes hands, as it inevitably does, will continue.

• Abortion requires the murder of a human life. Pro-choice folks like to euphemistically couch it in terms of personal choice for the pregnant woman, or “reproductive health,” but there are two lives involved, and one doesn’t have a voice in the matter. Some pro-lifers like to advocate for an absolute, federal (here we go again) ban on abortion. There must be compromise, meaning no one will get all they want. It’s a moral issue, not a political one.

• It’s been said that the United States was the greatest experiment in democracy of all time. As Senator Kennedy suggests, individually we’ve all failed but, through failure, we’ve become stronger. In the same way, our country has failed at times in war, political rule, and cultural civility but, through it all, it has persevered. That will not change.

• Those born here, and those who are naturalized citizens, won the lottery. The following words can be found on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” I’d throw in warts and pimples, and still choose the United States of America over any other country.

• God continues to bless America. This is a nation under Him, not any man or woman. Enough said.