OPINION: Birthday reflections

Tomorrow is Independence Day — the day we celebrate America’s birthday. 

As the United States reaches its 248th year, the joints are getting a little creaky and we are collectively experiencing some pain in the posterior.

I don’t know of anyone — Republican or Democrat — who didn’t feel a little heartburn after the last presidential debate. 

Now, the way I see it we have two choices on a birthday: We can get grumpy and old, or we can use our wisdom to leave the world a better place. 

What world are we leaving to the next generation of future Presidents of the United States?

We cannot hand them a world where the government has its ugly fingers inside a woman’s fertility choices. 

We cannot leave them a world that has been roasted to a crisp by climate change. 

We cannot leave them a world where educational opportunity is reserved for the ultra-wealthy. 

We cannot leave them a world without libraries. 

Most of all, we cannot leave them a world where a fascist president rules with unfettered, permanent power. 

With age comes wisdom and experience. From McCarthyism, we learned the terror of political witch hunts. From Vietnam and Afghanistan, we learned the pain of sacrificing American lives for foreign wars. And from The Greatest Generation we learned the danger of Ethno-Nationalism “Uber Alles.”

On America's birthday, we must take a hard look at where we have been as a nation and where we want to go. The GOP’s idea that America needs to return to some bygone era is just as misguided as wanting to go back to your 20s. Sure, the joints might’ve worked a little bit better. But everyone makes mistakes in their youth. We cannot backslide away from marriage equality, health care coverage for pre-existing conditions, investment in American infrastructure, and more. 

Conservatives are still trying to recreate a mythical bygone era that worked for a select few, leaving the most vulnerable on the margins. Democrats dream of an Idaho that works for all of us. 

Every one of us has a choice about what to do with our age. 

For young and old alike, America's birthday is filled with hope. You can wake up tomorrow and choose to spend one hour each week phone banking or texting. Email our field coordinator at Joe@KootenaiDemocrats.Org to learn how easy this is. 

You could find community by attending a Dems Club gathering. Reach out to Phil (philipjwardjr@gmail.com) or Ruben (rmiranda2265@gmail.com) to learn how. 

You could learn more about the candidates and causes that will shape our community this November. https://bit.ly/m/KCDemsCandidates

Or you could join our KC Dems Communications Chair in her favorite Independence Day activity — re-reading the U.S. Constitution. 

However you celebrate America’s birthday, choose to do something meaningful. Together we can create a more perfect union.

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Evan Koch is chairman of the Kootenai County Democrats.