Dave Short

Today is July 4, the day of American Independence. Perhaps it is not the day that our soldiers — weary, shaken, but filled with resolve — emerged victorious over the British troops, but it is the day that the thirteen colonies stood up with one voice, declaring that

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.

Declaring that we were fit to govern ourselves and not be shackled by chains thousands of miles long.

It is a great day. Never before had a nation been founded upon principles of freedom. Principles of free speech, in which dissent was encoraged and not frowned upon. Principles of free religion, where men and women could believe what they chose to believe and could not be persecuted simply for why they thought the world existed. Principles that made us (more or less) equal. Never before has a nation been created because of these principles. There was no economic motivation, no motivation of power, or fear, or defense. We came together to be together. And to do so freely.

And I have to wonder, watching the news, seeing this country slipping into a faceless sleep of the ignorantly oppressed, what our founding fathers would think. Yes, the image is corney, but hardly inapplicable. If they could see us shouting down others for expressing opinions, or pouring wine down the drain merely because it’s French, what would they say? Did not George Washington warn us of the evils of political parties, of divisiveness, of petty bickering?

Don’t get me wrong. This is still a great nation. How can one founded against the principles of tyranny, oppression, and inequality not be? But it is slipping. Inperceptibly, but it is slipping. And we can stop the gradual downhill slipe, if we only open our eyes. If we would only stop thinking about just ourselves and our families, and realized that there are others out there who need our help.

In short, if only we would stop bandying under our patriotic false idol, nationalism, and start uniting not only with, but for each other.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2003 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.