Thinking About the 4th

When I was in college, I had friend who was in the same class and was sent to Vietnam. [His lottery number was a lot lower than mine. ] He came back a few years later to finish his degree while I was working as a college administrator. One sunny summer day we were walking on the campus when there was sonic boom right above us. The next I knew, he was lying on the grass next to me. He was not scared, just taking a precaution. He had been hit by shrapnel in combat. Later, I asked him that was like. He said take your stove, turn the burner to High, and then hold your hand on it for five seconds. He showed me his scar. I have no idea what that would be like.

Most of us do not. Beginning with the Revolutionary War, millions of American have been injured and often died fighting for the vision the Founding Fathers had at inception of our new country.

July 4th is a celebration of the birth of our country.

Celebrating our birth as a Nation watching fireworks, drinking beer and eating brats, is fine. For the record, fireworks have minimal appeal to me, I don’t drink beer or any alcohol, and one brat a year is more than enough. But if you do any or all of these, or any other type of 4th celebration, I would hope you do some of the following.

1 – Read the Declaration of Independence along with a a commentary by academics whose expertise from this historical time period.
2 – Take some time to learn and think about the time period from whence the Document came from. How brave and difficult to declare Independence from England and make a decision to break from living under a monarchy. Keep in mind, for thousands of years, most every civilization lived under some type of a monarchy or another. Now think about the Declaration of Independence, especially the second paragraph in this light.
3 – Understand the Declaration of Independence was actually a final result of the Magna Carta which was written and adopted in England in 1215. Learn about the journey.
4 – Read and think about the Bill of Rights. Again, review academic commentaries prepared by historians from this time period. Especially review the 1st Amendment in light of the religious wars that had taken place across the pond for hundreds of years. The Founded Fathers rejected the belief that kings were appointed by God. It assets religion is not part of a government. For the record, the Founding Fathers were generally protestants or deists.
5 – Read a book. A good one is 1776 by David McCullough. Two excellent historical fiction books by James Alexander Thom are Long Knife which is the story of how George Rogers Clark, his life and challenges and how he won the western frontier for the American colonies. The other is From Sea to Shining Sea which is the story of the amazing Clark family including number three child George Rogers Clark and his little brother, William Clark. The book takes you from the 1750s all the way to Lewis and Clark returning from the Pacific along with all the challenges including warfare the Clark family endured and survived.

After doing at least some of the above, take a moment and consider if Trump or any Republican Trump supporter would have been a founding father. I don’t think so. For one reason, Trump and his Republican supporters wish to return the US to a monarchy.

July 4th if the birth of our country, and our freedom today is a based on sacrifices made at that time by the Colonists. To preserve our freedom, the Civil War was fought in the 1800s. The 1900s saw WWI and WWII as the challenge to our freedom. Today, it is Trump and his Christian white nationalistic supporters funded by money from rich donors. Reject them, go back to our ideals as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.