What Do We Really Celebrate?

The birth of this nation we call the United States of America, born on July 4, 1776 was a monumental event. 

The change was how nations and governments would establish themselves and break from the autocratic rule of Monarchies, Clans or Tribe rule and Religious principalities.  

This nation was not established on a common language, religion or ethnicity, it was founded on a set of beliefs and convictions.

Thomas Jefferson and the men and women who founded this nation were not gifted by the Almighty with some power that made them demigods or gave them a status of superiority.  

The founders of this country, both men and women were thoroughly flawed individuals who had their own ideas, dreams and desires that were not based on religion, but how they chose to live?

They were men and women out for profit, smugglers, plantation owners/slave holders, merchants, tradesmen, inventors, insurrectionists, and assorted low life’s who banded together to create a place they could profit from and enjoy a very lucrative life even if it meant enslaving a population both domestic (American Indians) and imported (African Slaves). 

Although America has fought with itself on several occasions (The first was the Whiskey Rebellion where several tax agents were beaten and killed attempting to collect a tax on whiskey which was used as currency.  George Washington, President at the time imposed Militia law also called martial law and raised 13,000 troops to put down the rebellion) we are a nation always in transition.

Although America as a nation has been at least duplicitous if not downright disingenuous in its treatment of some of its citizens, this country has been blessed by Almighty God to prosper and rise up despite being a nation of uneducated, inarticulate and ethnocentric peoples. 

Through war, fortune, guile and some would argue ‘providence’, America is where the least of humanity comes to live out the greatest of human blessings, which is freedom.

  

There has always been an ongoing fight between the ‘classes and the masses’, those with huge amounts of wealth and resources and those who want to work to be either accepted by those with wealth or resources – to steal, manipulate, cheat or lie to get their own wealth and access to resources.  This tension, called many things, capitalism, the American Dream or ‘accessing opportunity’ goes on to this very day.

But no matter who you are or where you’re from, with a little more than hard work and applied thought, you can make it in America.   Tomorrow, the nation celebrates its 236^th Birthday.  When we celebrate ‘Independence Day’ what are we really celebrating?

Some say we celebrate free speech and the right to bear arms.  But our Supreme Court ruled that its ‘free speech’ to pretend you won the Congressional Medal of Honor and front yourself as a ‘hero’ marginalizing the very worth of the valor it took to make this country free.

Some say we celebrate freedom of religion, even though some religions exclude persons based on race, income or status.  Some religious leaders have done sick and perverted acts upon children, women and the downtrodden in the name of God, justifying beatings, their admitted cult organizations and its crimes as an ‘ordinance from God’.

Some say we celebrate our victories in the great conflicts of history, the Mexican American War, the American Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, The Boxer Rebellion, World War II, Korea, Desert Storm I, Desert Storm II and soon Afghanistan. 

But we still don’t fully acknowledge the ‘conflict’ in Vietnam and the men and women who fought it.  Although a military victory, the American public still views it as a ‘stain’ or defeat.

So what the 4^th of July or ‘Independence Day’ boils down to for the average American living in America is their sacrifice, their beliefs, an Americans own reverence for their ‘America’.  Thomas Jefferson, who was both an eloquent spokesman for the rights of man and an abuser of slaves put it best, so I will quote him.

Jefferson wrote, “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.”  He also wrote, “— And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Tomorrow, I will be with family, friends, a family of friends to observe our nations birth.   We will munch down on burgers, dogs, steaks, seafood and other summer food.  We will spend the day staying cool and relaxing until dark.  We will watch the fireworks and be mesmerized by a display of light and sound. 

No matter how much you love our government or how much you love to hate our leaders the America you live in is the America you have.  You can bitch about it or you can change it.  Some say you need money to have power.  Some say you need influence to make change.  In America all you need to do is believe in you.  The God of providence is with you, either to kick your ass or to offer a shot of booze.

A woman on a bus in Alabama started the process to destroy ‘segregation’ an American abomination, Rosa Parks was a seamstress.

   A woman in the American Revolution with little resources or possessions followed her husband into battle, bringing water to the wounded and eventually taking her fallen husbands place at a gun in battle, Molly Pitcher didn’t ask for permission.

A Massachusetts school teacher appalled at the treatment of both women and slaves made her home a major stop on the ‘Underground Railroad’.  Lucretia Mott fought her town, her state and her nation for the rights of slaves and of women.  Lucretia Mott was not as well known as her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton but she was the backbone for universal women’s suffrage.

The American Revolution ended with the Battle Of Yorktown, what is not widely know is that a double-spy, a slave by the name of James Armistead, who moved quietly and effectively between British and American camps learned of the British plan to send 10,000 troops to Yorktown.  Armistead a spy for General La Fayette, gave the critical details that enabled Washington and La Fayette to defeat Cornwallis. 

Armistead was given his freedom after General Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette submitted a letter to the Virginia Legislature petitioning for Armistead’s freedom.  Armistead changed his name to La Fayette in gratitude.  It was the cunning and intelligence of this spy that literally won the American Revolution.  He was only a slave.

However you choose to observe the 4^th of July consider how many souls had to die to keep that freedom.  What is more, considered how many lived their lives to keep you free.  Consider now those living their lives to make this freedom last.

Happy 4^th of July.