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Can you still love America, even when you hate her?

Yes, you can. This the Fourth of July. America is still great, even if youre mad about everything.

Caitlin Flanagan, a writer at the Atlantic I admire, tweeted on Tuesday. "Well, looks like the Experiment is winding down. Never let anyone shame you for having been an American. This was the country that created the free world."

Flanagan's comments come in response to the Supreme Court's overturning of the federal right to an abortion. But whether tongue-in-cheek or somber, Flanagans sentiment echoes across social media and other media. Many people, some of whom consider themselves patriots, feel angry, disappointed, and have had it with America.

The Supreme Court has recently made several decisions critical to the culture wars. The highest court decided in favor of religious liberty, gun rights, and returned the issue of abortion laws to the states. If you lean to the left politically, June was definitely a disappointing month.

Believe it or not, however, conservatives have been here before too. There were times it felt like the things conservatives adamantly believed were not shared with the president, Congress, or the highest court in the land. But America is more than the sum of the opinions released by the Supreme Court. Shes even more than a Republican or Democrat: The "Experiment" Flanagan is referring to is Alexis de Tocqueville's observation that America itself was an experiment, an idea, founded on a unique experiment in democracy, liberty, equality, "of the people, by the people, for the people."

Is the "experiment" over, now that gun rights are solidified, religious liberty is stronger than ever, and the legality of abortion now must be decided by each individual state?

De Tocqueville believed that equality was the great political and social idea of his era, and Americans had a passion for it. By that standard, many believe the reversal of Roe v. Wade, giving the unborn more of a chance at life than ever before, demonstrates that America is as interested in preserving equality as ever.

Still, even just the idea that now the issue is forced upon the people of each state underscores the very democracy de Tocqueville admired. Americans tend to believe that democracy means order, peace, and pluralism. Sometimes it does. But the process of reaching that point is often messy, chaotic, and heated. The democratic process is not for the faint at heart, and Americas Founding Fathers would not have designed it to be any other way: Freedom requires effort.

Even after a tense Supreme Court term, elections that have boggled the mind, and a pandemic that weakened our economy, America still remains a land of opportunity and freedom. More than 1 million immigrants enter America yearly. More than that try to, even risking death. America allows more immigrants to enter than any other country. Americans are fond of visiting the rest of the world, but the number of us who choose to live elsewhere permanently is small compared to our population.

For all Americas flaws, and theyre obvious to almost anyone regardless of political party, the fundamental ideas that shaped this democracy are still intact. They still make this country a great place to live. In addition to observing Americas obsession with equality and liberty, de Tocqueville noticed this: "The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults."

If this is the litmus test for greatness, the Experiment is still going strong.

Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.

Read more from the original source:
The experiment advances - Washington Examiner