By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, American Citizen

July 4, 2026

Friends, currently, in this nation there is much division over the direction that our President, Donald Trump, is taking us. There are many people in this country who hate our President more than they love our country. In fact, there are Americans who will refuse to celebrate our 250th Anniversary as a nation because of their hatred for our current President.

The thing is that Independence Day should be a day of unity and healing for our nation. Some Americans, unfortunately, do not see it that way. They believe that if they celebrate this great American milestone, then it shows that they agree with our President and those who support him.

The thing about President Donald Trump is that he is perceived by some to be a poor leader. As much as people hate him, I don’t perceive him as an evil man. In fact, I see him doing a lot of good for the U.S.A.

I have had people in my life who have stopped talking to me because I support our President. They say things like, “He’s not my President.” I agree, he’s OUR President, whether you like him or not. I did not like President Joe Biden or where he was taking out country, but I still agreed that he was OUR President, and that he should be respected as such.

There have been four attempts on the life of President Trump. See, there’s the difference between us on the right and those on the Woke Left. They think it is perfectly legitimate for someone to take out a President they don’t like. If they just took the time to examine President Trump’s policies and accomplishments, they would see that he is fighting hard for this country. The problem is that most Democrats on the Woke Left are so enraged by the fact that the President won the election so decisively that it disproves their ideology, their policies that they blindly see as helpful for all mankind.

So, what are we to do when we don’t like, or even hate, the governing authorities. Friends, we are to submit to them, as the Scriptures plainly teach. There is no room in God’s economy for rebellion against the government. Let me stop there, and answer the question that is most definitely on your mind today, the 250th anniversary of these United States of America. Did we not rebel against England? I submit to you that our LORD is okay with righteous people removing the shackles of an unrighteous oppressor, like England was at the time.

Many of our Founding Fathers struggled tremendously with the idea of rebelling against the King of England. Remember, at that time, Great Britain was the super power in the world. To think that a ragtag group of Americans had any chance against a far superior opponent in the British, I’m sure was absurd to the whole world at the time.

Yet, we triumphed over the haughty British. Was it because we were stronger? Absolutely not! It was because our God was stronger.

If you don’t like the direction this country is going on, work to make positive change. Rally people to to your side and win elections. Prove to the people that you have better ideas, that your government will stand the test of time.

It seems like we go back and forth between parties for the Presidency, waffling between a Republican and Democratic President every 4-8 years. Why is that? Well, because we end up not liking what one party is doing in office, so the next time, we vote for the other side. Clearly, for Americans, hot button issues, like abortion, homosexuality, limited government, democratic socialism (which is currently destroying New York, NY, by the way), any issue that you can throw out there to divide us; no, we don’t care about any of those things.

Here is what we care about: a secure Homeland, that people get along, that our children be safe, that we have access to a clean and stable food and water supply, and that the poor amongst us are taken care of, etc. I could probably name many more things that Americans care about, but those are our core values. So, it stands to reason, that we will vote for any Presidential candidate who looks more able to do this.

So, why should we submit to the government authorities, as the Apostle Paul exhorted us to do in the Book of Romans? Because in this country, at least, we have the ability to vote in whoever want. And in 4-8 years, if that person blows it, vote someone else in. This is not rocket science, but apparently for Americans who are the most intolerant, yet cry tolerance from the rooftops, it is one of the hardest things to understand.