Elizabeth Marcello of the College Conservative reflects on July 4th in a new post.

This year’s Fourth of July is painted with division: underneath the fireworks bursting in the air stands an American people torn apart by politics and ideological stigmas. The Supreme Court split 5-4 on the Hobby Lobby case when the Justices (I believe) should have unanimously voted in favor of the business if looking strictly at the Constitution rather than society’s mob rule.

President Obama recently separated himself further from Congress by first blaming the influx of undocumented foreign children on Republicans and then setting himself above the law, stating he plans on “fixing” the problem on his own via executive order and without the legislative branch. And then there lies the question of what to do about Iraq, with the ISIS  declaring an Islamic State which placed new limits on the already restricted freedoms of the people in its territory.

Put simply, the world is in chaos right now, and America’s domestic issues add fuel to that fire. Most people (including myself) have been trying to restore the nation to its greatness one issue at a time, but quite frankly, there are too many issues that need solving. If we fix the immigration problem, great. But will that help change the spirit of SCOTUS or the violence of the Middle East?

Unfortunately, no. In our nation’s history, the moments when we have accomplished astonishing victories from our Declaration of Independence to the end of the Cold War have had one common thread: a peaked feeling of patriotism. The United States has survived its toughest ordeals by banding together and tackling problems hand in hand, Democrat and Republican, because the leaders at the time wanted the best for our country in the long run rather than being concerned about the fickle, short-term emotions of political activists.