As we celebrate the Fourth of July, our nation’s 248th birthday this year, I find myself wanting to go back in time to be in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall during the summer of 1787 for the Constitutional Convention.

In that room, the Assembly Hall of the Pennsylvania State House, one can only imagine what the delegates from the 13 states were trying to do.

Congress had authorized the convention to recommend changes to the Articles of Confederation, but the delegates soon found themselves creating the governing document for a brand new nation, the Constitution of the United States of America.

Those in attendance included George Washington who served as president of the convention, James Madison, often referred to as the father of the Constitution, and other notable figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

I think it would be safe to say those gathered in that hall had vision unlike any before them.

My, how things have changed in comparison to our leaders of today, which I can only describe as the blind leading the blind.

One has only to look at the situation in which we find ourselves as the presidential election nears.

That 1787 convention’s primary role was to create a government that put the power in the people’s hands, and, yet, today, the two major parties have given us two candidates that 60% of the American people prefer they didn’t have.

How is that serving the will of the people?

Well, it doesn’t. It serves only the will of the parties while exposing their complete and utter lack of vision for America.

And that makes me angry.

I am angry because we have two elderly men, one who can’t see the truth if it kicked him in the crotch and the other who, without a teleprompter or note cards, is unable to put coherent sentences together.

If I asked you to tell me their vision for America, could you?

I couldn’t.

Our leaders today have a vision that only extends out to the next election cycle — say, for two or four years. I am not quite yet the age of Joe Biden or Donald Trump, but am of the age I won’t be here in 20 years to see what’s become of our great nation.

But I sure would like to know what our leaders have in mind for my children’s and grandchildren’s sake.

We have had leaders with remarkable vision in the past. Visions that could inspire us to greatness, visions that could unite us in effort, visions that painted a picture of what our long-term future could be.

Where are the leaders of today who can do that?

If they are out there, it is obvious to many of us that the two blind parties can’t see them.

Washington gave us the vision of the “sacred fire of liberty,” and the “experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” Thomas Jefferson gave us the vision of a country that spanned from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Abraham Lincoln gave us the vision of a “United States” free of slavery. Theodore Roosevelt said, “We’re not building this country of ours for a day. It is to last through the ages,” as he proposed creating the extensive and lasting National Park system.

Following World War ll, Harry Truman challenged us to “test our courage, devotion to duty, and our concept of liberty.” John Kennedy not only gave us the vision of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely back to Earth but also reminded us of the importance of unity by saying, “Remember on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and let’s never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” We had Ronald Reagan’s vision of “a shining city on a hill” and George H.W. Bush’s “thousand points of light … that are spread throughout the nation.”

So, yes, I am angry, angry that it seems we have lost our vision of what could put us on a path to a remarkable and fulfilling future if we could get past this partisan warfare and begin to elect leaders who have vision and national goals that will, as Teddy Roosevelt said, “last through the ages.”

I don’t hear a unifying and lasting vision from Trump, nor do I hear it from Biden, nor do I hear it from the two blind parties who no longer listen to or respect the will of the American people and have given us two vision-blind candidates as evidence of their own lack of vision.

I have my vision for America, but am sure I won’t live long enough to see it, considering the anger and divisiveness that is so prevalent in America today.

But I am, though, curious of what your vision for America might look like.

Please share it with me at gregawtry@awtry.com and happy 248th birthday to the United States of America!