Letter: We share one basic: Love for America

I am proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. I am blessed to live in a constitutional republic, not a democracy, and I am glad that our Founding Fathers knew the difference and why it matters.

I truly believe that all people are created equal under the law, and that any American citizen has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without regard to race, color or creed. I fully understand that we have a ways to go before that becomes fact, but I also believe that we are a good people and in time it can become a reality if we work together to achieve it.

I am convinced that capitalism is the best economic system that man has ever conceived. It has pulled more people out of poverty and despair than any other system, bar none. There is no close second place.

We are strong because we are a nation of immigrants from all around the world with different cultures and different ideas, but we share one basic thing, a love for America. Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we have more in common than differences. We should embrace our commonality, and try to work through our differences in a civil manner. That formula has worked well for more than 200 years.

Sometimes in the heat of the moment, we forget the lessons of the past and what America is really about. We all need to be reminded from time to time.

This story was originally published February 14, 2017 at 11:20 PM with the headline "Letter: We share one basic: Love for America."