Essay On Why America Began Out Of Protest

America began out of protest. It began because a group of people decided they didn’t want to be silenced. It began with principles which, at the time of its beginnings, were revolutionary. Today, we still value these same principles, and it is those principles which make America unique. We are one of the only countries that doesn’t just allow free speech but encourages it. And we must express our love for our country and its values through patriotism: the expression of the ideals in the Constitution.
Today, we are a polarized nation. We categorize everyone based on two sets of ideals, and we do not believe in there being any sort of in between. But, despite our different idea of implicating the ideals of the constitution, we are still connected through our patriotism and our beliefs of what we want our nation to be based on. Everyone’s perceptions differ, but they are still “a

good American if they champion life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Fridersdorf). Because everybody in the government wants to make America better, but they disagree on the best ways to do that. But, this does not make any side more or less loving of America. We must unite our opposing views and realize that all of us have the same goal: improving our country.
Some have argued that those who protest the government are inherently unpatriotic.

They claim that disagreement with the decisions of the people in the government entails disagreement with the ideals of the nation, but that is not the case. People protest oftentimes because of their believe in the ideals, and because they do not believe the government is living up to the foundations the country was built on. One example of a patriotic protestor is Martin Luther King Jr. No one would deny that King did not love his country despite his protests. This is because King protested out of his love for the country, and his hope that we “live up to our founding ideals of equality, liberty, and democracy” (The White House). Remember, America was built on the principle that protesting and speaking out against the government was a person’s right. As a matter of fact, one of our Founding Fathers, Samuel Adams stated, “If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in the government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its

ruin.”
Patriotism is the expression of the values our nations was based on: equality, liberty, and democracy. It is not a “visceral belief in America’s greatness” (Vanden Heuvel) , but a logical belief in American greatness. What other nation has fought as we have for a government run by and for the people? What other nations encourage the people to speak out against the government? And what other nation has fought as hard as we have for the idea that all men are created equal?