Independence Day

It’s Independence Day in the United States of America of course. The good old Fourth of July.

Hard to believe that such a vast, diverse, fractious land could have held together for so long, 246 years and counting. It’s easy to forget that the United States is actually older than many nations in Europe, including big ones like Germany (formed in the mid-19th century) and France (now on their 5th Republican government structure).

I always appreciate various lines from the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson, but this one seems especially appropriate right now:

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” 

To that end, here is an excellent thread on Federalism from the always excellent John Hayward (aka Dr. Zero) which, although not entirely applicable to us as an already small nation of just five million people, still makes good points about how Federalism limits the power of the state to control people, simply by reversing the centralisation of that power.

Here also a classic rendition of a famous Sousa march.

Of course there are always some people that are not happy about America’s Independence Day – not including any Brits, who seem to hold no hard feelings over the whole issue, but over more recent events – but it seems the number of such people is increasing.

As that article points out:

Goodness knows that from the 1960s to the present, there were many Supreme Court decisions (not to mention legislative and administrative actions) with which conservatives disagreed. But that didn’t cause us to stop celebrating Independence Day, or to suggest that our country’s existence is, on balance, a bad thing.

The growing fissure over Independence Day is one sign among many that our society is cracking up. Patriotism, love of country, belief in a shared citizenship with those with whom we disagree–however you want to put it, is the glue that holds a country together. Our polity is losing those values, and thus, if present trends are not reversed, it will be an open question it is possible for red and blue America to continue to live together under a common government.

Ah well. Trouble and strife are part of our life. I don’t know how reconciliation will occur between the current two factions in America but I’m optimistic enough to think that it will happen, if only because the modern Left is so focused on tearing things down that they’ll eventually exhaust their followers, who will return to the solid things about America that have lasted.

I’ll leave you with an unusual version of the National Anthem. The artist Victory Boyd was scheduled to sing the National Anthem at the 2021 NFL opening game. That is, until they canceled her because she was unvaccinated and refused to change that status. She knows thus of what she sings.