Need a lesson in democracy this Fourth of July? Just look at the brutal crackdown during demonstrations over a disputed presidential election in Iran, and the peaceful transfers of power that mark governance in this nation should jump into much clearer focus.

Democracy, run well, safeguards the liberties and freedoms we celebrate today. As tyrant-repressed North Korea contemplates its own brand of skyrockets, Hondurans suffer through a “pajama coup” and other nations around the globe struggle to find their footing on the way to real democracy, the cost of freedom—and the vigilance needed to preserve it—cannot be far from our minds.

Iran provides an example of what democracy looks like, when it’s only for show. The White House recently announced that it had withdrawn invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend Fourth of July festivities at U. S. embassies around the world, an unsurprising move according to one expert quoted in the Washington Post. It would, indeed, be not just hypocritical but odd for Iranians to help celebrate the national day of a country with which Iran has no diplomatic relations.

On Becoming American

Working professional diplomats may not be as moved by the symbolic gesture Washington intended as they would be by specific steps, short of military action, targeting Iran. That action, which should be globally supported and not just an American initiative, may involve steps from economic sanctions to funding resistance groups.

Meantime, the struggles of Iranian protesters are reminders of what this country endured during its earliest years, when protests were staged and armies clashed on American soil. In this era, the blood shed by protesters such as 26-year-old Neda Soltan, shot down and left to die in the arms of a friend, has intensified global reaction thanks to the immediate posting of videos and updates on the Internet, beyond the control of Iranian rulers.

It has become increasingly difficult for President Obama to engage in civil discussion with such a repressive country. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton authorized the Fourth of July invitations as a method of reaching out to the Islamic republic, but the withdrawal of the invitation was appropriate under the circumstances.

The chaos in Iran, though, does serve as a reminder of the freedoms we enjoy here. And there was another happier reminder of that recently, as Buffalo gained some new American citizens.

A naturalization ceremony in the Buffalo&Erie County Historical Society Museum saw 50 people from 32 countries, including the United Kingdom, Rwanda, Nigeria, Russia and Mexico, become Americans. As individuals, mothers holding infants, extended families and emotional onlookers watched U. S. District Judge William M. Skretny issue an appropriately warm welcome to those seeking the kind of freedoms ingrained in a democratic nation, the diversity of America was strengthened and its ideals refreshed. That, too, is worth celebrating along with the birthday of an ideal of freedom and liberty that was embodied in a nation born 233 years ago.