Independence Day Musings

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. ~ The Declaration of Independence

“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” ~ Alexis de Tocqueville

July 4^th, 2014.  After taking my usual sunrise run I was surprised, and disappointed, to see that my coffee house haunt was open at 6, the usual time for a weekday.  Not so disappointed that I boycotted coffee for the day but enough so that it gave pause to note that another holiday was passing with business as usual.  Workers were arriving at Home Depot to start the day and the Big Lots folks were putting out their Independence Day displays; sadly they aren't independent from work on what should be one of the most significant holidays in America’s calendar year.

It was 238 years ago that the Declaration of Independence from the British crown was adopted.  It was, for all intents and purposes already a done deal.  Two days prior the 2^nd Continental Congress had approved Richard Henry Lee’s resolution declaring independence.  And this certainly didn't mark the day that the colonists took up arms.  The revolution had been going on since April of the preceding year and the colonists had been raising bloody hell (As King George might have said) for some time before that.  The Declaration of Independence wouldn't even be signed until the following month.  But I’m splitting hairs, aren't I? 

Of Independence Day John Adams, who would become the second President of the United States, wrote to his wife Abigail, that it would be “the most memorable epocha in the history of America.  I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.  It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illumination from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”  Adams was talking about the 2^nd of July, which he believed should be the day of commemoration but once again we’re splitting hairs.  The idea was to commemorate THE IDEA.  THE IDEA being the movement towards a successful democratic republic.

Adams would be sorely disappointed.  I doubt that his notion of commemorating independence from the crown would be to have a sale or to show television commercials caricaturing his brethren, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington in order to hawk cars.  Certainly Jefferson, who is credited with authoring the bulk of the declaration and many of his fellow Virginian founding fathers would have been disappointed.  He tied the fulfillment of America to be in an agrarian society; one free from the corrupting tentacles of business.  Then again Jefferson’s agrarian vision was tied to slavery, which he denounced while conveniently keeping his slaves. 

The founding fathers.  We hang on their words and quote them like biblical scripture and like biblical scripture we use their words to our own ideological purpose.  Maybe we should recognize and judge more in deed than in word. Their work in the late 18^th century was a dangerous one.  They were in fact, in the eyes of the crown, criminals and on August 2^nd when they signed their names to the Declaration of Independence they were signing an admission of treason.  They were men of principal and they stood on principal with bravery.  In our reverence for these men can we claim the same of ourselves.  Will we stand on principal and what is right to our own personal detriment?

The declaration was one against the tyranny of The British Crown.  Tyranny is a word that’s bandied about a lot in this 21^st century.  Its great sport to make off the cuff remarks about our “tyrannical” president and government or about our “tyrannical” laws that don’t allow you or me in our crowded society to willy-nilly do whatever we want to the inconvenience of our fellow citizens. Hell tyranny is used every year about this time to grouse about not being able wave sparklers around or to shoot off your own fireworks in a suburban neighborhood surrounded by tinder dry hills.  But what do we know about tyranny?  I know the stories that my grandmother told me about living in Rome in World War II when the tyrant of all tyrants, Hitler, held sway over much of Europe.  She knew tyranny first hand when the SS raided their flat in search of her son who was (rightfully) suspected of deserting the army to fight with the resistance.  That, my fellow Americans is tyranny. 

What is lost in the celebration of Independence Day, beside the opportunity to celebrate for those who are compelled to work, is what we are celebrating.  We aren't celebrating a nation or a continent so much as we are celebrating an IDEA.  In the 18^th century the notion of a successful democratic republic succeeding was laughable.  A betting shop of the day would have it as the longest of shots. 

As I do every 4^th of July I put out my flag this morning.  I do so because I love America and I’m proud of America.  But not blindly so.  America is a great country but it is so because of the ideals that prompted its founding and not simply because it is America.  This is the day that Americans choose to proudly proclaim that America is the greatest country on Earth and in the history of nations.  That’s a bold statement and one that the jury will always be out on.  That bold statement is made too much and too often by folks who have only a smattering of knowledge about their own nation’s history and workings.  They worship the flag while forgetting the ideals that it symbolizes.  They are too often patriotic bullies who live by the creeds; “America love it or leave it,” and “America, my country right or wrong.”  Those slogans have no place in America; they are in fact, un-American.

I've often been taken to task or summarily un-friended on social media by some of my fellow Americans when they take umbrage at my criticisms of America.  And hell yes I do criticize America and I do so because if our national aspiration and pride is to be the greatest nation on Earth then we need to hold it to a higher standard.  Parents do so with their kids, why would we not do so as citizens?  The founding fathers were the parents of the ideal of America and they handed down the custodial responsibility to succeeding generations.  And so we have a duty to do what is morally right in the name or our country and for our country to do what is right and just in representing its citizens and the ideals on which it was founded.

That isn't always an easy task.  I recall when Daniel Pearl was beheaded in Pakistan by Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.  There was a hue and cry by many Americans for a like retribution. In a news forum I disagreed, saying that such acts are against what America is about and I was criticized for being soft; admonished that unless we committed similar acts we would never be respected or feared by “those people.”  And so we were supposed to practice the barbarism of “those people,” in order to somehow gain worldwide respect when in reality it would have betrayed the very ideals on which this country was founded.  If you want to wear the white hat it sometimes means taking pause, a deep breath and a more measured path. 

America is a great nation that has done great things.  But it isn’t enough to live on the laurels of good deeds. America's greatness demands that we assume the burden of it's misdeeds.  If we are to continue to be a great nation and a great people then we must continue to raise the bar, to recognize our national sins when they occur and to work tirelessly and, in what is most difficult for most Americans unselfishly or what is right; for what is just and for what is fair, not only for Americans but for all people.

And finally on this and every Independence Day I urge all Americans to take a few moments in the day to learn something about the founding of the nation or any other aspect of its history.  It is a great country with a fascinating and compelling story.  

John Trumbull's dramatic if inaccurate painting of the signing