As we end our celebration of the 4th of July holiday for another year and head towards the fall elections, let's spend a moment reflecting on who we are and why we fight like siblings in a dysfunctional family.
In my opinion, we really are a cohesive nation but with diverse and passionate beliefs. We may argue, both reasonably and occasionally with more "volume" than common sense but in the end we pull together to get things done.
We are a people who spend each day trying to make this country just a little bit better for ourselves and our posterity. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, at our best we do not look at things as they are and say "why", but instead looks at things as they should be and say "why not?". We open our doors (sometimes not wide enough or fast enough) to people from all parts of the world and allow them to claim their piece of our dream. We do all of these things because we believe in ourselves and our ability to grow, improve, and always become better.
That, in my opinion is the real America exceptionalism.