I love my country. I love it for its lofty ideals — government of the people, by the people, for the people; government that is constitutionally-bound to provide freedom for all, justice for all, equality for all.

Yes, America at times falls short of these lofty goals. In our beginning, there was slavery. Some of our founding fathers owned slaves. Some opposed slavery. Some thought emancipation should come over a period of time. And in time, after a war that pitted North against South, slavery was constitutionally abolished. Now, under our Constitution, we are truly equal. In harsh reality, there are still many Americans who think, preach, and teach that some of us are better than others. They may quote the Golden Rule, but they don’t live the Golden Rule that “we treat others as we wish to be treated.”

Thus, Americans remain divided, providing fodder for the politicians who seek to take control of our government out of the hands of the people, and seize power for themselves.

These politicians, these pretend-to-be patriots who promise to “make America great again” sadden me profoundly.

Our founders shed blood to live in a land founded on the ideal of every American having the equal right to pursue happiness. Our Bill of Rights is our source of national pride!

I’m talking about national pride in its best sense, not the arrogant, bullying pride of those who don’t understand the meaning of “all men (women, too) are created equal.” Pride at its best comes from self-respect that is earned by doing what is right, what is good.

Shame on those Americans who claim to be the most patriotic because of the political ideology they tout. Shame on those Americans who present themselves at home or abroad as superior human beings. They are not worthy of their American heritage.

In these United States of America, it is “We, the people,” who are responsible for making our government work.

When critics attack government, accuse the government for creating problems, they are attacking “we the people.” For if there are problems with government, it is “we the people” who voted (or failed to vote) for those who run government. And it is “we the people” who must right our ship of state.

This doesn’t mean I think Americans can do no wrong. Americans, like people of all nations, are capable of wrongdoing, even committing horrendous crimes. The 1968 MyLai Massacre of the Vietnam War comes quickly to mind.

Prejudices exist: Racial prejudice, religious prejudice, and social class prejudices are the most common. People entrenched in their prejudices believe they are more entitled to respect, to opportunity, than the person or object of their prejudice. People with prejudices are prone to hold on to them because it helps them feel better about themselves. Nonetheless, their prejudices do not change the American promise of equality. Even in our Revolutionary Days, there were people in the colonies who were loyal to, or sympathetic to King George.

Oh, that we of today would free ourselves of loyalty to either the Democratic or Republican party. For party loyalty — or loyalty to the candidates of those parties — is a threat to our nation and all it was created for. America wasn’t built on political partisanship. George Washington, our first president, didn’t belong to a political party. And he spoke passionately against a political party system. In his farewell address of 1796 he warned of political party corruption, saying, “It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”

Unfortunately, after Washington, political parties formed, and the political mischief began.

The pride of America is in its people who have shown courage, resourcefulness, compassion and yes, the ability to fight, when necessary and when called upon for help to keep a world free from tyranny.

Writers of our Constitution had the foresight that change would come to our nation, and they allowed for necessary changes to be made.

Isn’t it time to amend our Constitution so elected terms are limited, paid lobbyists don’t get to write our laws, and political campaigns are not money-making machines for propaganda-spouting, power-hungry cons who divide instead of unite the people? Politicians’ promises to “unite” the country can never be trusted. We need to accept that we have differences in beliefs, in the ways we view life. We also need to respect the right of others believe differently than we do, to see things differently than we do. We can hope that they, in turn, will respect our right to our own beliefs, but we cannot count on it.

This nation was founded is what our Constitution promises for each one of us. We can and should respect each other’s American right to think his or her own thoughts, vote his or her choice, to believe in God, or not to believe. And if we are religious or claim moral high ground, we can work on “loving our neighbor as ourselves.”