This was a Fourth of July weekend better considered upon reflection than anticipation. Our nation lurched into this year’s holiday fearful, angry and confused – I know I did. How could we have botched our COVID-19 response so badly? Why are African-Americans still mistreated so unfairly when their contributions to national success are both indisputable and longstanding? The same goes for Latinos and other international immigrants? Why does the most successful democracy in history, whose achievements recently commanded the admiration of humanity, now appear a nation in decline?

There are no simple answers to these questions. Without argument, we seem to have badly lost our way. On July 3, I had my first chance to watch the musical “Hamilton” performed on stage courtesy of Disney Plus. It lived up to all its hype. It’s a rare cultural event in this moment of polarization that wins plaudits from Dick Cheney on the right to Nancy Pelosi on the left. Even the title of John Bolton’s White House memoir was purloined ‘the room where it’s happening’ from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s script, while the emerging “Rise Up” movements echo the show’s repeating anthem.

Following the devastation of Hurricane Maria, Donald Trump reportedly had to ask his staff why Puerto Ricans enjoyed U. S. citizenship – something about the Spanish American War and late 19th century American imperialism in the Caribbean I imagine. While Miranda is not a first-generation immigrant in a legal sense, his parents’ search for a better life in New York City is typical for many new arrivals. Aside from his obvious genius, why was this native son able to appreciate the nobility, courage and honor shared by our Founding Fathers and then recast their story into a hip-hop parable for the 21st century? Perhaps he sees the promise of the American project with clearer eyes.

Early on, Lafayette and Hamilton exchange a high-five and chant together, “Immigrants! We get the job done.” The Broadway audience explodes in applause and cheers. Miranda has explained this remark was intended as a wry, throwaway line whose integrity and truth has grown in subsequent years. Whatever sins stained America in 1776 slavery was the worst, yet refugees, asylum seekers and the desperate still hope to reach our shores. Several years ago, I listened to a Somali refugee speak in Aurora when asked whether he had experienced prejudice in Colorado and how that compared with what he escaped in Africa. He answered, “No discrimination can compare with people trying to kill you,” which makes the Elijah McClain case so profoundly unjust.

Fifty years ago, I was serving in Puerto Rico at the Naval Radio Station in Ponce, where my son was born and I acquired a lifetime weakness for Don Q rum and cokes. On July 4th our fast pitch softball team played a game scheduled at the minor league baseball park in Mayaguez. The stadium was decked out in red, white and blue bunting hung between alternating Puerto Rican and American flags. As American citizens, Puerto Ricans were subject to the draft and Viet Nam veterans were playing on both teams. One was the largest Puerto Rican I ever saw, probably six foot four and all muscle. When he first came to the plate, he powered a softball directly at me. As I reached the warning track in centerfield, I realized it was still rising as it sailed over the fence at 375 feet. We then walked him three times to the considerable jeers of from his fans. Not to worry, we lost badly anyway. Then we Americans shared a feast.

Upon reflection, I have to point my finger at the ongoing polarization of American politics as primary culprit for our current social paralysis. It’s not simply a question of Congressional gridlock, although that’s disgusting, but our sense of shared destinies has been lost. Whenever zealots on either left or right demand we all think alike on everything, no one is doing much thinking. John F. Kennedy may have said it best at a far less contentious time, “Let us not seek the Republican answer nor the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix blame for the past. Let us accept our responsibility for the future.”

President Trump used the Fourth to claim he is fighting to save us from the radical left. What about the radical right? The president is also running a campaign ad challenging the mental acuity of Joe Biden for his frequent verbal stumbles. If ever there were a case of the pot calling the kettle black, this is it. Joe seems smart enough and man enough to wear a mask. Those bleating about their constitutionally guaranteed liberty to spit on their neighbors selfishly refuse to respect the rights of “We the people.”