This Year
July 4, 2008
7:00 AM CST
It’s a funny thing, but the Fourth of July has become, for me, a kind of “State of the Union” day—a time when I celebrate our nation’s birthday, of course, but most especially look at the dreams of 1775 - 1789 and compare them to what our nation has become.
On some years, therefore, I am unspeakably gloomy about our chances and prospects; on others, I am enraged beyond words, and other years (mostly, it should be said) I feel tremendously energetic and enthused about the whole thing.
It’s easy, I think, to say that the dreams have become hopelessy corrupted, and there’s certainly enough evidence to go around to support that position: iniquitous and predatory taxation, and a government which regulates our lives to a degree which would have had the Founding Fathers reaching for their muskets.
I’m a little more optimistic than that.
What I can see is that despite all the above, We The People still manage to live our lives in a state of happiness, comfort, health and affluence to a degree unthinkable to the Founding Fathers.
What I can see is that despite the efforts of the ignorant and venal, we have still managed to “keep” our Republic and its Constitution, as the man stated, even though the good intentions have become a little tattered around the edges, just like the Constitution’s parchment itself.
Through this noble experiment, we have managed to keep that flickering, fragile flame of freedom alive for over two hundred years—where other systems of government have either collapsed or been transformed into malevolent entities.
In other words, it’s not that we have become something less, or unworthy of what our Founding Fathers dreamed for us. It’s that we could have become something considerably worse—and, given the facility with which we control our government, we could have allowed that to happen quite quickly and easily, at almost any point along that two-century timeline.
We have kept the faith with our forefathers through a wrenching, divisive Civil War, two World Wars (and other wars which we’ve taken on with little or no allies), a global war against terrorism, and various economic calamities which would have destroyed other nations completely easily.
Yet here we are, in 2008 AD, celebrating yet another birthday not with grim, massed parades of military might “cheered” on by compulsory crowds, but as individuals, with our families, enjoying barbecues and ballgames, and watching fireworks displays created not by government, but other individuals.
It is a monumental achievement, and while I know we have much to do to preserve and protect this nation, this noble experiment, this Land of the Free from the baleful intentions of others, I am confident that, as we have every time in the past, we will be sufficient for the challenge.
Bless you all, and a Happy Fourth of July to everyone.
Kim
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