Cooperation needed to keep what we began on Independence Day

Americans paid a high price to obtain and maintain our freedom and independence. Americans have also paid a high price to help other countries maintain their independence. Those achievements required teamwork. In the wake of WW II, the U.S. Congress gained a lot of members who had served in the war, eventually reaching 78 percent of the membership. Military service in a war zone is not essential for legislative service. However, those former members of Congress gained something vital from their war time experience. They learned that cooperation is required to make organizations function. They learned that teamwork wins.

The nine U.S. Presidents who held office in the 48 years between the end of the war in 1945 and 1993 all served in the military, eight of them in war zones.

Today, we have members of Congress who are disinclined to cooperate, who even announce their policy of obstructing legislation. The national news media calls this “gridlock.”

Here are some names you may not recognize: Augustine Choi, Nandan Gokhale, Iman Hajirasouliha, Gang Han, Madhu Jagadeesh, Michio Kaku, Helen Hung-Ching Liu, Dharmendra Modha, Fyodor Urho, C. J. Vorosmarty. Their ancestors didn’t arrive with the Pilgrims in 1620 and didn’t fight in the War for Independence. And it is very unlikely that you will see any of them on the 4th of July driving around in a pickup truck with a big American flag displayed in the bed of the truck. But they are Americans, and they are working, diligently, to ensure that America is at the forefront of world leadership far into the future. We are all different, but we can work together if we choose to do so. Cooperation might be a wise choice.

Russia is preparing to become the dominant player in the acquisition of Arctic resources as the ice melts. China intends to replace America as the world’s most influential country. Scientists from half a dozen fields believe that climate change is going to impose severe challenges in the foreseeable future. There will surely be other unforeseen challenges. “My way or the highway” might be a “muddy road ahead.” A complex world requires the teamwork contributions of many people with diverse skills and backgrounds. Military services require it; businesses fail without it. 

And governments? Democratic governments need some degree of cooperation and teamwork to function. In fact, one purpose of democracy is to allow citizens to grapple with problems and solve them peacefully. But our history reveals that, if we are sufficiently obstinate, we can defeat that aspect of democratic government. We have no right to expect government to perform flawlessly, but we have an obligation to demand that legislators deliver a functioning government, or, if they do not, we have a duty to issue them a passport to early retirement.

Future generations will know that we have preserved our Independence if elections are honest and honored, if we operate as a national team, if we solve our racial discrimination problems, if bright foreign students elect to study in the United States, and if distressed refugees rate the United States as their number-one choice for a new home.

Jack Stevenson served two years in Vietnam as an infantry officer, retired from military service, and worked three years as a U.S. Civil Service employee. He also worked in Egypt as an employee of the former Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Now retired, he currently reads history, follows issues important to Americans, and writes commentary for community newspapers.