The Ship Of State

Happy 4th of July.

This National Holiday affords us the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our great nation, and take inventory of how true we have stayed to the founding principles of our Republic.

America is akin to a great tent capable of holding a diverse crowd. On the Left we have critics like Howard Zinn, along with publications like New York Times, always quick to point out America’s past crimes, and re-write history by declaring 1619 as the founding of our nation.

On the Right we have the 1776 Hamilton Boys, and publications like Wall Street Journal, with their greed-is-good orientation, and worship of the Dollar to such an extent, we are left with the burden of a $30 Trillion National Debt.

Instead, on this 4th of July, I would like to invite all of us to move beyond these factions and experience the 245th anniversary of the birth of our nation through the eyes of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a great American patriot, in his poem titled "The Building of the Ship."

The Building of the Ship, 1849 (Abridged Version)

"Build me straight, O worthy Master!

Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,

That shall laugh at all disaster,

And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!"

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years,

Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

We know what Master laid thy keel,

What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,

What anvils rang, what hammers beat,

In what a forge and what a heat

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!

In spite of rock and tempest's roar,

In spite of false lights on the shore,

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,

Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,

Are all with thee, — are all with thee!