And we know that some of our neighbors’ families were brought here in slave ships. Their family stories have not been so happy. We suffer from America’s original sin: racism. And we want to purge our country of it. And we want our daughters and sisters and friends to be freed of the misogyny that like racism persists inexplicably in this land where little girls get to play gleefully.

Of course we are grateful for what we have. But we have been here a long time, and the anchor points of our satisfaction have been shaped by years of the American dream and the American Promise, and we want those not just for our children but for all of our children.

Pat Conroy

Evergreen, Colo.

The writer is the author of “Let’s Get Civil: Healing Our Fractured Body Politic.”

To the Editor:

Congratulations on running “The Joys of Raising American Kids.” It is a pleasure to read something positive about our great country as a counterpoint to your lead editorial on July 4, “America the Sometimes Beautiful,” where the glass, at best, always seems to be half empty rather than half full.

David MacNeil

Chatham, N.J.

To the Editor:

Yes , the author’s children likely have options in America today that they would not have in Russia. But our country’s citizens can do better than to be grateful that we do not live in Russia. One of the major problems facing the United States is the fact that individuals give thanks for their private good fortune while failing to appreciate that not everyone shares either the bounty or the perspective. The present danger is that all of us, liberal and conservative alike, will embrace and guard our individual turf to the exclusion of everyone else, and will in the process let our leadership pull the rug out from under all of us.

Ellen Shapiro

San Francisco

To the Editor:

Jessie Kanzer makes good points in her essay. Freedom to choose is wonderful. I’m an immigrant who long ago became an American citizen, and a liberal, too. I am proud to be both. I’m living the American dream because I’m secure and my children are good citizens who have chosen their careers because of their passions, not a government or political party directive.

Liberals despair at seeing people who are fleeing their homelands to chase the American dream treated with cruelty and hatred. We want them to be safe, to have a chance to raise their children in secure freedom. We welcome their aspirations to become American citizens, to work and to contribute to this great nation. We despair at seeing buffoons and haters disparage immigrants as criminals. We fear that inequality and intolerance are becoming acceptable values. We dread what is being done to our wonderful country in the name of fake patriotism.