Are we the good guys anymore? America?
My God I so want to believe in this ideal, this myth, this civic self-understanding and shared aspirational dream. I think we might have once seen ourselves as good.
Good. As in decent, humane, merciful, and generous.
The kind of nation that takes good care of its own, especially the poor and vulnerable, the unhoused, the ill clothed, the unemployed, and the sick. Can we claim that truth? Are we a nation that can be depended upon by our allies, that when freedom is on the line in some far away place, America will always stand with those peoples who seek to be free?
Is that us?
Are we a country that still remembers that so much of our cultural vibrancy and economic strength comes from migrants and immigrants, folks who travel to our shores and borders seeking a new home and new opportunities? My paternal great-grandfather Edward believed that when he came here in 1876 from Ireland as did my maternal grandfather Armand, who immigrated from Canada in the early 1930’s. Both sought work and a new life.
Would those men be welcomed today? Or maybe turned away? Or who knows? Tracked down by masked government agents, arrested without a court hearing, thrown in an anonymous black van, then whisked away to some secret prison, maybe even never to be heard from again.
I still want to believe that America celebrates religious diversity, that our country is a place where you can believe what you want, and you can choose not to believe too. Whether Christian or Jew or Muslim or agnostic or atheist, America is supposed to be a place that honors and respects freedom of religion and freedom from religion too. Our founding forebears, the ones who put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776: do we really imagine they would have favored a Christian theocracy, or Christian nationalism? Seriously?
Freedom of thought and speech and freedom of the press: those still apply here, right? That you or I can be flag waving or flag burning patriots and trust that those rights are both guaranteed by our Constitution. How amazing is that?
I mean I think that the press’ job is still to be a bulldog when it comes to the government, to cover Uncle Sam without fear or favor. I don’t think our press is supposed to be like a fawning little puppy or fox, yapping out “HURRAH!” anytime those in power pass this law or approve that budget.
Should we be worried when a major news outlet pays $16 million to the President because his feelings were hurt by a new story? You’d think “No way!” That could never happen. Certainly not in a news organization whose forebears include Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.
And yet this week that’s exactly what happened.
Can we be good, America, without a free and courageous press? I don’t think so.
And as the Declaration we’ll all celebrate on 4th says, “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.” Translation: no Kings in America, then, now, or ever. And also, no dictators, no tyrants, no despots, no bullies, and certainly no civilian head of government with too much unchecked, unchallenged power.
Two hundred and forty-nine years ago, we left behind the monarchy and all the tyranny that always comes when too much power is given to too few, or to the one. Some may think that is great. But not me. Wannabee royalty is never good for America.
Not in 1776. Not in 2025.
Good or great? What will it be America? Thank God that choice is still in the hands of we the people. Happy Independence Day!
(The views expressed in this essay do not necessarily reflect the views of the people and church I serve nor the United Church of Christ.)
The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.
