Fourth of July -- “e plu·ri·bus u·num”  

E pluribus unum (out of many, one)

How can one measure the breadth of our nation’s story? It’s too big, goes on too long, and the family tree spreads from shore to shore. The USA's greatness is freedom of opportunity which it offers to anyone who can make it here and work hard. Also, the abundance of natural resources is on an unprecedented scale, except for places like Russia and China; and their governmental systems are inferior. Our structure of a constitutional republic with separate branches of government continues to outperform competing systems; however it is the irascible spirit of the citizens from all generations that continually refreshes the fount of liberty, keeping the nation’s independence alive.

Maybe the sheer size and diversity of the 50 states insures such economic and cultural disruption that we constantly re-invent the American experiment. My fear is that like a large extended family, it has become disorganized, dysfunctional. The family budget over-extended, leadership unfocused, core principals attacked, I’m afraid the grace of freedom, purchased at a high price by the blood of patriots, has been cheapened by the citizenry enjoying the fruits of the land, but without protecting it as a yeoman does his fields. With the election season almost upon us, I'm anxious, worrying about the choice before us. On this holiday, I pray that the country will find the wisdom, and in God’s providence, we’ll be protected once again from a wrong turn. Jefferson said that lethargy was the forerunner of death to public liberty, so may my words here be a call to thought and action to all who read it; may this season awaken us to what we can do to change our course.

It is the extraordinary power of freedom to change lives from which this nation’s power comes. We have freedom of economic choice, the ability to associate and speak out against any organization or idea, as well as the freedom to worship whatever God we want to believe in without repercussions. Today, as we celebrate our independence on July 4, 2016, my mind goes back to what I saw on the top of the Davis Mountains in west Texas, last summer. I saw a universe that I did not even fathom was as large as it is; and today, I’m putting the 240 years of our country’s existence in perspective with that of the galaxies. Novus ordo seclorum was put on our seal, meaning the USA is a “new order of the ages” and our little star shines bright among the heavens.

I learned that the star we call Thuban, or historically, Alpha Draconis, was considered the “north” pole star until about 1,900 BC. Having gradually drifted away from the pole over the last 4,800 years, Thuban is now seen dimly in the night sky. In the future, after moving nearly 47 degrees off the pole by 10,000 AD, Thuban will gradually move back toward the north celestial pole. Astronomers believe that in 20,346 AD, it will again be the “north” pole star. I didn’t know that our present pole star was a new one, and that eventually Thuban would come back into being on-point. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

By thinking of the time & space continuum in such a simple way: just finding what I always knew was the North Pole by drawing a straight sight line through the two outer stars of the bowl of the Big Dipper, pointing to Polaris, I can go along with the normal thinking, and do what I always do. But in the context of today’s political environment, at this time, neither party is pointing the same direction they’ve always pointed. We’ve had a shift that is global in nature, especially by Britain leaving the EU. True north isn’t true anymore. Not so long ago, when writing here about the Texas primary, I didn’t imagine the GOP in the position it’s in now; about to run a candidate that most Republicans don’t want. I’m positive that I didn’t imagine the weakened, divided state of the Democratic Party?! We’re in the twilight zone…

So I’m tempted to focus on true north again; once it comes back around to what it’s supposed to be. Our land is vast and plentiful. We have abundant natural resources of oil, gas, wind, water, crops, livestock, metals, and human intelligence. The USA is blessed with innovative citizens, sacrificial servants willing to fight and protect freedoms here and abroad; and enough room to spread out and do whatever activities we want to do, with whom we want to do them. This is still the country everyone in the world dreams about coming to and “making-it” big.

Current poll results: "Only 52 percent of U.S. adults say they are “extremely proud” to be Americans in the latest Gallup poll, representing a new low in the question’s 16-year trend."

The creative output and intellectual property of our various technological industries, such as hi-tech or media, still leads the world and is as “cutting edge” as one can get. Our energy and medical sectors still produce more innovation than the rest of the world combined: other countries must clone-and-go in order to compete by producing the same goods cheaply. Slowly but surely, the society is more giving, tolerant, and peaceful, and this is evident by every measure, it just doesn’t make the six o’clock news; and I’m not sure the two major candidates for President represent this reality? Despite the data shown above made possible by the Gallup organization, most Americans would love to travel abroad, but they always are glad to return to this sacred soil.

As with any family, there are those outstanding members who represent and pull 80% of the weight; and there are those 20% slackers who always show up for a family feast but conveniently forget to bring a bottle of wine. We have the fringe, the leftists and the right-wingers, we have the greatest generation, and the millennials; they’re spread out all over the 50 states and they all have their own precious agendas. That’s in fact the way we celebrate July 4^th! We don’t have a collective parade of the military, or one in which the most prominent guests are politicians; they may be lucky to get a seat in one of the last cars this year. Our parades are individualistic: decorate a bike if it’s all you got, or when I was growing up some dude decorated a tank (which ended-up damaging the streets. #Merica). We party in each other’s backyards, not in the city square. This still is a country which supports individualism; it’s very unique and important to keep this a priority.

On Memorial Day we remember the fallen heroes, on Labor Day we celebrate the broad shoulders of the working majority who built this country, and maintain it; but on the mighty #Fourth, we celebrate Ideas: that all Men, and Women of all kinds are created equal, they are endowed by their creator God with certain inalienable rights (they cannot be taken from us); that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (however you define that to be), under the rule of law. We also remember that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. So as ABC13's Marvin Zindler used to call out at the end of the newscast, “good golf, good tennis, or whatever makes you happy!”

e plu·ri·bus u·num (out of many, one). Happy Fourth.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

P.S.: In my tradition of adding a youtube video to illustrate: https://youtu.be/C3oKZOmBReM
(Frank Sinatra on what God really looks like... enjoy #Merica)