On Monday we are going to sit on our lawns with friends, eating burgers and hotdogs, watching fireworks, and celebrate saying, “Go America! Independence! USA!”

I do not feel like putting on red, white, and blue and shaking red streamers to celebrate the country I live in. Un-American? Ungrateful? Maybe it is---maybe I am.

I’m somewhat of an idealist when it comes to our country. During government class this year I became very passionate about politics. I got to read about how a Supreme Court justice is nominated, and then watch Obama nominate a justice after Scalia’s passing. I learned about open primaries and Super Tuesday and then got to experience them and watch the results come in first hand. I got to learn that although a textbook tells me how our government runs, that we are swimming in corruption.

I believe, and I still want to, that every vote matters. That one person can make a difference. That a country can be ruled with morality, kindness, humanity, and LOVE. Naïve? Perhaps, but I don’t think so. As my love for politics grew, so did the pain I felt as I recognized how broken our system is. We let Super PACS, favors, and money dominate how our country will run. We let candidates slam each other on twitter and watch as they act as though they are per petulant fourteen-year-olds trying to get twitter famous. Actually, scratch that last statement, that was an insult to fourteen-year-olds everywhere.

We do not live in the “greatest country in the world” and we are not becoming “great again.” Quite frankly---we have never BEEN great. We were land stealers, slave owners, and egotistical supremacists thinking everyone should assimilate to our culture. How much has really changed? Are we really as ‘progressive’ as we think we are, or are we simply replacing old prejudices and faults for new ones?

We’ve allowed party lines to become mountain high walls and we think there can be NO in between. We’ve let fear turn us towards hateful ignorance rather than inspired truth. We decide to place blame on people who practice religions different than our own, people who have been given wrongful stereotypes, or people who love differently than we do.

Let’s stop building walls against each other. Maybe I’m naïve in thinking acceptance and loves are better than violence and fear---but I just don’t think so. I think it’s time we actually decide to talk to each other. At the end of the day, we’re all American. I don’t hate America, and I wouldn’t write this if I didn’t feel passionate about our potential. This is the country we LIVE in. Maybe you think this election or what happens in Washington “don’t affect you,” but THAT is naïve. We are a world power, a supposed democracy, and a country that is supposed to be “by the people, for the people.” Let’s be politically educated people worthy of having a government by us and for us, and then maybe we’ll have a fourth is July where we celebrate how far we’ve come.