Honor The Spirit Of United States

Today, we celebrate America’s birthday.

At the ripe old age of 232 years, our great country remains more united than divided. That’s a pretty amazing feat – given the high-decible shouting in this election year.

Like any family, we squabble, bicker and give our siblings the occasional black eye. But the cords that bind us are thick enough to withstand such conflict. Let’s hope this continues to be the case.

The nation faces challenges. The economy is struggling; 62,000 people lost jobs in June – the sixth straight month of decline. Gasoline prices are just shy of $4-per-gallon in the Bristol area and have already topped that mark elsewhere. The cost of food is soaring.

We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 154,000 servicemen and women are deployed in Iraq, including some of our friends and family members. More than 4,000 have died there and scores of others have suffered grave, life-altering injuries. Close to 500 U.S. military service members have died in Afghanistan.

It’s going to take ingenuity and cooperation to solve these problems. The sort of us-against-them mentality that has dominated the national political scene for the past decade or so is no longer useful. Teamwork should be the mantra of those who aspire to hold our nation’s highest offices in this time of travail.

Pipe dream? Perhaps. But what other option is there? More gridlock, finger-pointing and bickering by our elected leaders. No thank you.

On this July 4, we urge our readers to reach out to their neighbors – even those who think differently. Let’s reinvigorate our communities and our nation and pull together rather than splintering apart into even tinier factions.

We don’t have to think alike or look alike to be unified. We just have to believe in the idea, the concept, of America and respect each other’s differences. It’s not too late.