The day we celebrate

By Capt. Fogg

Of course the paper this morning contained the usual happy crap about celebrating FREEDOM as though we had either more of it or a better kind than Canada or most of Europe who have embraced the principles of democracy and the rights of man we seem to reject every Sunday as we yearn for the Divine Right of Government. What the day is about is political independence and independence from a government that denied us the right to parliamentary representation it was legally obligated to provide while requiring us to identify the king's right to be king with a state church. It was about our right to fair representation as citizens, as equal participants in government regardless of wealth and importance and heredity, and not about a tea tax.

As you watch the sound and fury of the fireworks, remember that the people selling themselves as patriots, the people talking about freedom in saccharine tones, really mean control by a powerful aristocracy allied with a narrow, sectarian interpretation of a certain religion.

"Blessed is the nation whose god is the Lord"  begins the full page full color newspaper insert payed for by the Hobby Lobby. It leaves off the next stanza: "the people he chose for his inheritance," which of course in that context means the Jews. It also mistranslates אשר־יהוה,  asher-Yaveh, as the lord, so those who think "Jesus is Lord" will think it means them. The arrogance and the dishonesty would be amusing if the intent were not so insidious, because our friends at Hobby Lobby, glowing like the face of Moses in their victory over secular law, have asserted their commitment to and aspiration toward a government Dei Gratia. They assert their version of the Bible as the best source of normative morality.

The flag-bedecked page is packed with references to Supreme Court decisions from the 1830s supporting the public schools as the place to pray and teach Christianity and out-of-context quotes from the very anti-religious founding fathers like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson about the Christian Bible being the basis of all true morality. (No mention, of course, of the Bible-backed, God-tolerated institutions of wife beating and slavery and rape and genocide and banishment of non-Jewish people from the Holy Land.)

No religion is about freedom, they are all about orthodoxy and uniformity of belief to the exclusion of other ideas and practices. Freedom of worship is not freedom to enforce religious orthodoxy or religious law on others. No religion is about free choice, democracy, or the inherent rights of man. No one in America has claimed the right to dictate your thoughts about divinity but religious organizations. Your prayers, your right to congregate and worship, are guaranteed against the influence of Hobby Lobby and our Constitution forbids our government to do what they insist is the right thing to do: establish and enforce some form of Christian doctrine as the law of the land.

If this be freedom, then freedom is slavery and the American Revolution against a divinely-inspired Christian king we pretend to celebrate today was not only fought in vain, but was blasphemy and an unholy act.

(Cross-posted at Human Voices.)

The glorious Fourth and the meaning of America

By Michael J.W. Stickings and Mustang Bobby

MJWS:

We're posting this a day late -- though I did wish everyone a Happy Fourth yesterday -- but it's well worth it. I have a few things to say about my attachment to America, but it is Mustang Bobby's post, below, that is such a moving, and such a deeply personal, expression of what America means and of the love he has for his country. I encourage you to read it in full. (I also encourage you to check out Frank's July Fourth post over at his place.)
_____

Unlike Mustang Bobby, and most of our contributors here, I'm not American, at least by citizenship, though I do have a lot of American in me.

One of my grandfathers, in fact, was from Alabama, injured on the beaches of France in World War II and later a sportscaster, and back through him I can even trace my lineage, by marriage, to one Davy Crockett (specifically through his first wife, Polly Finley). And it is a direct ancestor of mine, John Finley, who encouraged one Daniel Boone to venture into Kentucky, with Boone later taking settlers through the Cumberland Gap.

Like Mustang Bobby, though, I love America "not for what it is but for what it could be." America is a great country, to be sure, but it is the promise of America that truly inspires. And it is that promise, I think, that should be the driving spirit of all those who care to work for the country's betterment. And I count myself, even as a non-citizen, as one of them.

**********

MB:

When I was a kid I was very outgoing in putting up displays for the holidays — Memorial Day, Christmas, the Fourth of July — I liked the flags, the lights, the stuff. It was cool to make a big splash. But as I grew up I grew out of it, and today I don't go much for things like that. I don't have a flag to fly on national holidays, and the most I'll do for Christmas is a wreath on the door because it has good memories and the scent of pine is rare in subtropical Florida.

I suppose it has something to do with my Quaker notions of shunning iconography — outward symbols can't show how you truly feel about something on the inside — and more often than not they are used to make up for the lack of a true belief. This is also true of patriotism: waving the flag — or wrapping yourself in it — is a poor and false measure of how you truly feel about your country.

Read more »

July 4, 2013 -- Independence Day

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

We had our day three days ago. Now it's the Americans' turn.

Happy Fourth of July, my American friends and family!

Go watch some baseball or eat some apple pie or something.

**********

July 4, 2012 -- Independence Day

By Michael J.W. Stickings

We had our day three days ago. Now it's the Americans' turn.

Happy Fourth of July, my American friends and family!

**********

We'll have several new posts up today, but let's start off by posting this clip of Bruce Springsteen, as American a musician as there is, performing "Independence Day" with The E Street Band at MSG on November 8, 2009.

Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late

Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now

I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate

We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow

Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us

There's a darkness in this town that's got us too

But they can't touch me now

And you can't touch me now

They ain't gonna do to me

What I watched them do to you...

Happy Fourth of July!

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Slow posting today -- actually, nothing up before this. What can I say, it was a long holiday weekend (Canada on Friday, the U.S. today), summer is in full swing, at least up in my part of the world, and it's been a busy time for me on a number of fronts.

But allow me, late this evening, to wish all of you Americans out there (and I'm part-American myself) a belated Happy Fourth of July.

I hope you've had a wonderful day filled with family and friends, baseball and BBQ.

Now let the blogging resume...

But not before posting this clip from one of the best worst movies of all time, a movie so terrible it's not just good but actually rewatchable (as I often do when I come across it on the teevee), a movie with one of the most laughable inspirational/patriotic/jingoistic speeches ever.

Yes, on this Fourth of July, let's watch some Independence Day!

Independence Day 2010

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I meant to post something earlier today, but it was a relaxing day full of soccer tournaments and pool-side barbeques with friends -- well, one of each, actually -- and I'm just now sitting down at the computer, with an eye on Halos-Royals on ESPN (which we get here on TSN). So it was a busy Fourth of July for me, even here in Canada, three days after our own national birthday celebration.

I want to wish a very happy Fourth of July to all my American friends and family, to my wonderful American co-bloggers and contributors, to my American friends throughout the blogosphere, and of course to all of our American readers.

As a subject of Her Majesty the Queen -- I'm British as well as Canadian -- my feelings on this day are, as you might expect, somewhat mixed. But we're past all that, aren't we? No hard feelings? Besides, I really do love America -- I wouldn't spend so much time writing about it if I didn't care.

Anyway, I hope you've all had a great day. Be safe out there.

-- Michael

The Glorious Fourth

By Mustang Bobby.

When I was a kid I was very outgoing in putting up displays for the holidays -- Memorial Day, Christmas, the Fourth of July -- I liked the flags, the lights, the stuff. It was cool to make a big splash. But as I grew up I grew out of it, and today I don't go much for things like that. I don't have a flag to fly on national holidays, and the most I'll do for Christmas is a wreath on the door because it has good memories and the scent of pine is rare in subtropical Florida.

I suppose it has something to do with my Quaker notions of shunning iconography -- outward symbols can't show how you truly feel about something on the inside, and more often than not they are used to make up for the lack of a true belief. This is also true of patriotism: waving the flag -- or wrapping yourself in it -- is a poor and false measure of how you truly feel about your country.

There's an old saying that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. As Benjamin Franklin noted, no country had ever been formed because of an idea. But when the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1776 and passed the resolution embodied in the Declaration of Independence, that was what was being done. To create a nation not based on geographical boundaries, property, tribalism, or religion, but on the idea of forming a new government to replace the present form because the rulers were incompetent, uncaring, and cruel. The American Revolution wasn't so much a rebellion as it was a cry for attention. Most of the Declaration is a punch-list, if you will, of grievances both petty and grand against the Crown, and once the revolution was over and the new government was formed, the Constitution contained many remedies to prevent the slights and injuries inflicted under colonialism: the Bill of Rights is a direct response to many of the complaints listed in the Declaration.

But the Declaration of Independence goes beyond complaints. Its preamble is a mission statement. It proclaims our goals and what we hope to achieve. No nation had ever done that before, and to this day we are still struggling to achieve life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness goes on with no sign of let-up.

That is the true glory of America. Not that we complain -- and we do -- but that we work to fix those complaints. To put them right. To make things better than they were. To give hope to people who feel that they have no voice, and to assure that regardless of who they are, where they come from, what they look like, who they love, or what they believe, there will be room for them to grow, do, and become whatever it is that they have the capacity to be. It's a simple idea, but the simplest ideas often have the most powerful impact.

This nation has achieved many great things. We've inspired other nations and drawn millions to our shores not to just escape their own country but to participate in what we're doing. And we've made mistakes. We've blundered and fumbled and bullied and injured. We've treated some of our own citizens with contempt, and shown the same kind of disregard for the rights of others that we enumerated in our own Declaration of Independence. We have been guilty of arrogance and hypocrisy. But these are all human traits, and we are, after all, human. The goal of government is to rise above humanity, and the goal of humanity is to strive for perfection. So if we stumble on the road to that goal, it is only because we are moving forward.

I love this country not for what it is but for what it could be. In my own way I show my patriotism not by waving a flag from my front porch but by working to make things work in our system and by adding to the discussion that will bring forth ideas to improve our lives and call into question the ideas of others. It is all a part of what makes the simple idea of life, liberty, and that elusive happiness so compelling and so inspiring, and what makes me very proud to be a part of this grand experiment.

Go forth!

(Originally posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof on July 4, 2005.)

Happy Fourth of July!

By J. Thomas Duffy

Hooray for the Red, White and Blue!

Happy Fourth of July! ... Independence Day!

The Garlic (and, The Reaction) wants to wish all a very happy, safe, enjoyable holiday, wherever, and whatever the manner in which you celebrate it.

This may be our only post of the day, as we haven't finished, what has been a burgeoning tradition the past two years, of penning a "Garlictorial" (see today's This Date ... On The Garlic, for the previous efforts).

If we don't get it up later in the day, perhaps tomorrow.

In the meantime, kick up your heels, with this well-worn classic;

Stars and Stripes Forever



If, you want something, a bit off the beaten path, we can hip you to another, that, unfortunately, almost, exists exclusively on jazz radio stations, invariably, blared out today on many a playlist.

It is the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, "Doodletown Fifers", performed, faithfully, by the Bill May Orchestra

The Doodletown Fifers

This, as it turned out, was the only big hit of the short-lived Sauter-Finegan Orchestra;

Sauter-Finegan was an extraordinary 21-piece band, the like of which has never been seen before or since. The music was so complex that it depended on first-class musicians, many of whom contributed on three or four instruments each . The exquisite music of Sauter and Finegan frolicked in every range of the band, with fife and piccolo at the top and tuba and bass trombone at the bottom.

Although never a raging success, the band was able to go on tour between 1952 and 1957 and it recorded a dozen or so albums. Its biggest hit was "The Doodletown Fifers", based on an old Civil War song. "Midnight Sleigh Ride" called for horse's hooves as an introduction and backing, and Finegan achieved this sound by stripping to the waist and beating his chest before the microphone.

You can go HERE, for the Sauter-Finegan rendition, just scroll down to "Doodletown Fifers"

(Jazz Freaks will know, that it was Eddie Sauter who arranged the Stan Getz album, "Focus")

So, once again, Happy Fourth of July!



(Cross Posted at The Garlic)