Tomorrow is Independence Day, and it is a milestone year. 250 years have passed since the founding of our nation, and that should be reason to celebrate, so why does it feel so “meh?”
I was very young, but I remember the Bicentennial in 1976. We went canoeing at a lake and I picked cattails. When it was dark, I remember lighting (with the help of my father) ground bloom flowers and watching the pretty colors dance in the street. I remember my father telling me about the founders and how the people rose up to fight for their freedom in defiance of tyrannical leaders. I remember all the flags, the excitement, and the national pride – something we are lacking these days.
It is difficult to be proud of a nation that funds and arms a genocide. It is difficult to celebrate a nation that is targeting the weak and vulnerable members of our society because they came from the wrong place. It is difficult to be festive on the occasion because our “dear leader” has turned our nation’s milestone birthday into a series of partisan events to satiate his own ego.
That said, we can’t accurately put this all on one guy – though he may deserve most of it. I can’t recall a single president in my lifetime (except perhaps Carter) who hasn’t committed/ordered war crimes, and the US has been funding and arming Israel since the 1960’s. But yes, the events that Congress had planned on were hijacked by the current administration and turned the nation’s celebration into a partisan political rally and financial grifting.
So it really doesn’t feel like there is anything to celebrate, but even with everything going on with our country, we should. When we celebrate the milestone, we aren’t celebrating the so-called “leaders,” we are celebrating the people. Our current administration may have hijacked the show to glorify an individual, but neither the Republicans nor Democrats own the holiday – the people do.
When we celebrate Independence Day, it isn’t supporting a particular political party or administration, it is to celebrate the strength and resolve that our founders had to stand against tyranny and declare ourselves free.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…
So fire up the grill, crack open that bottle, and celebrate with your friends… and never forget, treason is the reason for the season…
Song of the day: Suite Madame Blue by Styx
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