It’s hard to reflect on the significance of Independence Day in 2017 without dragging a lot personal feelings about the president into the mix.

That’s a shame, even though it’s quite understandable. When we think of the momentous occasion of declaring our freedom – paving the way for the codification of personal liberty and the invention of whole new way of governing (by and for the people) – the turbulence of an unconventional presidency can make everything we’ve achieved since then feel tenuous.

Which is ridiculous, of course. We’ve weathered everything under the sun to get here – slavery, civil war, world wars, economic upheaval, internment, institutional racism, civil strife, a Cold War, terrorism, and on and on.

From this perspective, it’s hard to believe that a president with a penchant for insults will be America’s undoing. Yes, it’s troubling to many people that our president seems more concerned about what cable TV show hosts are saying about him than, say, fixing health care.

But whether his behavior is beneath the dignity of the office – as many critics on both the left and the right have proclaimed – it’s worth remembering that We the People retain the power to make America as great – or as awful – as we want it to be.

Read more at the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.