The sun shimmered on the choppy waters of Lake Powell as I piloted a pontoon boat toward the marina during the Fourth of July weekend.

We'd done our best to celebrate freedom as we barbecued burgers and hot dogs on the back of the boat, did some fishing, swam in the reservoir's warm water and enjoyed the scenery.

Except for the drone of the motor and some tunes playing on the iPod, things were quiet. There was time to think.

So I did.

My first thought was that building the Glen Canyon Dam and creating Lake Powell was an amazing accomplishment. How could man conceive of a place like this or plan for the flooding of these massive canyons?

Then I became more philosophical and slightly sad.

Would the America of 2011 even think about investing the tax dollars and the manpower to attempt something as massive as the Colorado River Storage Project? Debate the environmental consequences of Lake Powell all you want — and I certainly have done my share of that over the years — but the motivation for its building was mostly pure. The project provides clean electricity and stores water that benefits millions of people. Hundreds of thousands more enjoy the recreation it provides. Yet, in this day and age where low tax rates are king and where we fight wars without asking most Americans for any kind of sacrifice, a project like this — conceived in the '50s and built in the '60s — would probably never happen.

Would we have the will to construct an interstate highway system? Would a Central Utah Project even be a possibility? Would we have bothered to have a space program to put a man on the moon?

Going further back, would we dare pass excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment to save habitat or set aside land for a national wildlife refuge system? Would Americans view their national park system as frivolous? And how about the laws to protect our water and air that many modern-day politicians seem more than willing to throw away?

On July Fourth, as I sat in the parking lot of a Mesquite, Nev., casino managed by the Ivy League-educated grandson of a Chinese immigrant listening to a wonderful pops concert of patriotic music capped by a grand fireworks display, I did even more thinking.

We're scared of immigrants these days. Maybe we always have been. But they often work harder than we do, not taking for granted our great country. They are "the other," often blamed for perceived high taxes, crowded classrooms and expensive health insurance premiums. We like the cheap food and labor that immigrants provide but resent it when their children attend our schools or when they need medical care.

I think America has become a nation of whiners who want the services government provides but don't want to make the sacrifices to pay for or protect them.

I heard all the great patriotic preening on July Fourth about how we are the greatest country the world has ever known. There was praise for our soldiers, though certainly no will to pay the taxes needed to keep them armed, safe and appreciated. We seem content to send the few willing to volunteer to serve in foreign hell holes again and again and again, oblivious to their sacrifice.

Excuse me for watching the charade in Washington, where compromise and problem-solving are viewed as political weakness and where big money rules, and then wondering if our beloved United States has seen better days.

Thus, as I savored the benefits of our free society by watching fireworks, listening to patriotic music and enjoying the freedoms of the great outdoors on the July Fourth weekend, I felt a bit of uncharacteristic melancholy.

I worried that in our greed and selfishness, we've lost our way, forgetting that sacrificing for the common good combined with protections for individual freedoms made our country great.

Tom Wharton is an outdoors and travel columnist. Reach him at wharton@sltrib.com or 257-8909.