Against the backdrop of the coming November elections, one might give an extra measure of consideration to this summer’s National holidays. On Memorial Day, we pause to consider the heroism and valor of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to preserve freedoms for the U.S. Citizens and those living in Democracies throughout the world.
July 4th brings a celebration of the idealism of our great nation, formed by men who resisted oppressive leadership to the point of being declared traitors in order to establish a democratic republic. Even Labor Day celebrates freedom. Before these divisive times, the labor movement established a necessary balance in workplaces where corporate greed and power strove to create a new lower class in society; an effort the labor movement thwarted.
We celebrate these holidays, however, today’s great political precipice requires that we do more than celebrate them. We must rediscover them and their reason for being entrenched in American tradition.
Do today’s younger generations understand Memorial Day? Hopefully, they have been taught respect for the sacrifice of America’s military. But they seem to lack an understanding of a love of the ideal embodied by America that caused the greatest generation and those servicemen and women that followed. A love so strong that Americans would willingly die to see it continue for their offspring. I fear that the idea of sacrifice for the greater good is lost today.
On July 4, among barbeques and fireworks, consider the foundational document of our country:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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 to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
Our forefathers had the foresight in the Constitution that followed to allow for representation of the people, by the people. The mechanism to abolish a destructive government and institute a new one resides in the power of your vote. Stop voting for a party. Start voting for candidates who exhibit representative leadership. Independence Day should cause us all pause to find a way past the broken party politics and vote for people over party in November.
On Labor Day, when we celebrate the idea that hard, honest work should be rewarded with honest compensation, we also celebrate a movement created when people rose up against corrupt and greedy business owners to secure their right to fair compensation and safe workplaces. We do not celebrate the warped reflection, the politicization of the labor movement and the reasons it is now a divisive factor rather than a unifying one.
Enjoy your holidays. I encourage you, however, to celebrate them against the backdrop of what are perhaps the most important Congressional, Senate, and Presidential elections in the history of our nation. Freedom is fought for, established and needs to be protected by every generation.
