I see a tension between legitimate progress and patriotism.  The American ideal, while sometimes flawed in its execution, remains the best so far.  In a world populated by sinners, where we can never be sure of the character of a leader, our system prevents oppression and tyranny.  In that light, then, progress is refinement, making the the American system more free, more capitalistic, less centralized, and certainly less bureaucratic.  The progressive Left, who favor regression not progress, don't understand or don't care.  They have been working hard to indoctrinate successive generations to regret the American way in favor of something else; whether you call it European socialism or Soviet communism, it isn't American and it isn't progress.  The challenge, as I have written, is to find ways to explain and persuade those that the Left has manipulated, kept ignorant in many respects, and turned into blind followers.

    Listen to Barack Obama, the current crop of Democratic, and many Republicans, and you will hear defeat.  America's best days are gone, and we can only give up the things we love--cars, freedom, and even food--to "save the world."  When I worked as a programmer for a young company, the board brought in a new CEO who thought the best way to make a profit was to fire people.  Like many today, he couldn't imagine pushing forward to success, solving problems, and creating something new.  For so-called progressives, we cannot really "solve" the energy crisis; we can only stop using energy, a plan they insist on despite growing opposition from all sectors, regions, and political persuasions.  Our congressman Mike Rogers proposed a multifaceted approach--drilling for oil, building nuclear plants, and seeing new technologies.  I heard someone else suggest a "Manhattan Project" sort of commitment, pulling together the best and the brightest to find new answers to meet our energy needs.

    That's the America I love, and why I am a patriot.  I am not an isolationist, but I am a United States first kind of guy.  Elitist want to become Europeans, for some reason.  I don't see the success and progress there that has been the hallmark here.  Too many of our leaders seem to have suicidal tendencies, when it comes to this nation, which we elected them to serve.  Judges appeal to European or international law, instead of the Constitution.  I think Pat Buchanan has a point when he says we have lost our independence.

    To make matters worse, we have been forced to listen to candidates and party leaders make promises that they cannot or will not keep.  People are worse than gullible; they are uncritically accepting, naively optimistic, and foolishly presumptuous.  They don't ask what or how; they simply assume that what they want is what the candidates are promising.  They don't check to see if their record matches their rhetoric or confirms their character. 

    In a different vein but somewhat relevant, I had reason, recently, to ponder Job's friends.  Job, the oldest book of the Old Testament, tells the story of a man who God allowed to lose everything to prove that he would remain righteous.  Job's friends, after a week of simply sharing his grief, told Job that his sin caused his suffering, including the loss of his children in natural disasters.  I have had friends like that, but, worse, I have been a friend like that.  It's the danger in political conversations, too.  Even as we seek to prevent disaster and restore what we have lost, we must take care not merely to point the finger (I won't say which one).  Blaming does little to fix what is broken, if in fact those we blame are even responsible for breaking it, whether their personal lives, their families, their communities, their businesses, or even their country.  It is a piece, and a counterproductive one, of what makes some talk shows destructive rather than constructive.

    In my Independence Day blog, and in my contrasting progress and progressives, and even in the heading of this blog, I try always to balance what I consider to be the bedrock values of faith and freedom with a civil, constructive approach to advancing them.  Personally, I get tired of those who accuse others of hate; I personally resent a charge that is diametrically opposed to what most Christians are.  What can we do to counter the often aggressive efforts to destroy Christian influence and Christianity's very presence in this country?  I believe the answer, contrary to our natural impulses, is peacemaking.  In this case, I'm not talking about world peace, interpersonal peace, or inner peace, although I touch on all of these.  In the contentious, anti-religious, and often openly anti-Christian environment in which we live, we need to commit ourselves to "true peacemaking," which is the very soul of our faith and the very heart of our God.

    In these days following Independence Day, it can't hurt to remember, "(I)f the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).  In this freedom, is peace, joy, and love, virtues that are the very essence of a life of true peace.  In this freedom is real hope, the anticipation of good which God has promises to create, not a political slogan empty of meaning or substance.  In this context, we have the ability to change for the better, apart from political rhetoric and sloganeering, changing ourselves not our government or way of life.  Yet, in this spirit, we also have the tools to work toward the changes we truly desire though constructive engagement with the people we know and meet, in our families, at our workplaces, and in our neighborhoods.  As a patriot and a peacemaker, I feel pretty good about that.