Honor founding fathers by putting their system to work

The weeks leading up to the Fourth of July have been interesting, to say the least.

The TV Land has dropped the Dukes of Hazzard, and while three-quarters of white Americans see the Confederate battle flag as just a symbol of pride in the south, the same portion of African Americans see it as a symbol of racism.

No one's asked the Native Americans if they see the stars and stripes in a similar light, but then history is written by the winners.

Bruce Jenner announced he was now Caitlyn on the cover of Vanity Fair, hailed as a hero for identifying as a female despite that pesky Y chromosome that says otherwise.

Meanwhile, Rachel Dolezal lost her position as an advocate for people of color after her identification as African American was rejected simply because her genetics didn't agree.

Social conservatives were understandably upset at the Supreme Court's arbitrary rejection of state protections of traditional marriage, but for decades, they've been looking the other way in the case of other forms of sex outside of traditional marriage, adultery and fornication.

Look at any current controversial issue, and you'll find similar inconsistencies -- health care, the environment, capital punishment, governmental control.

As we celebrate Independence Day, we should recognize our dependence on one another to engage in meaningful debate, and use the political system set up by the founding fathers to find solutions to the problems that confront us all, while recognizing we will never all agree with them.