Today, July The Fourth 2020, we celebrate America and things that are uniquely American.
Like baggy oxford-cloth buttondowns, tassel loafers, national parks, and Hollywood.
However, this comes at a contentious time in our nation’s history.
In fact, it probably feels rather frightening.
You may feel as if you’ve been abandoned in a barren wasteland.
And that you have to hide in the shadows.
Keep a low profile. Walk on eggshells.
You may even feel like you’re forced to swallow things that impede your ability to think clearly.
And if you simply say the wrong thing, you’ll end up with a mugshot.
It’s as if there’s some Cold War-type enemy watching everything you say and do, and you’re not even sure what they want.
So hang on, Mr. and Mrs. America. Hang on to the Founding Fathers with all you’ve got.
Because it’s a long way down.
And remember that oft-repeated quote from a certain 1961 novel: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”
Happy Fourth Of July, America.
Happy Independence Day! Happy Birthday, our beloved country! God bless America!
And Grant’s co-star Eva Marie Saint turned 96 today….
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.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Nuts
Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?
First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
I have a dream!
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
We need to feel the fierce urgency of now because people are dying.
Nice post, Christian. Good reminders, Whiskeydent. Happy Independence Day, everyone.
Happy July 4
And may USA back to be that that was when north by northwest was shot,
The America of the Eisenhower days.
Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th 4th of July 1826. Last words or near last words of both were asking about the other. TJ died five hours ahead, I think. President James Madison died July 4, 1831.
Former Presidents, of course.
Quite true, Mr. Trotter. Thank you for the reminder. 50 years to the day after the Declaration, two of the Founders, both former presidents, died. Adams’ last words, at the age of 90, were “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” As you pointed out, Jefferson, 7 years younger, had died five hours before, 500 miles south, a few miles from where I live now.
Adams and Jefferson were incredible rivals. They both hired journalists — more like PR men — to write scurrilous stories about each other published in pamphlets. Yet, despite all their vitriolic acrimony, they somehow respected each other.
Like Paine, most of the early “journalists” were paid to deliver a message, not the straight news. For example, Washington paid Paine for his “sunshine soldiers” in the “The Crisis,” a beautiful argument for courage, loyalty, democracy and patriotism.
I should stop now. I am well past wine o’clock. Pardon my maundering. Good night gents! Happy 5th!
Few know that John Adams was the lead defense lawyer for the British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre. All got off except two who were found guilty of manslaughter, which carried the death penalty. The two “prayed clergy,” an ancient right. This allowed a clergyman to avoid punishment by proving he was a member of the church; as few commoners could read it was granted to anyone capable of reading Psalm 51, verse 1. One of the soldiers could not read; it is assumed Adams read it for him or recited it from memory.
Everybody was still British at that time.
Yes, it does feel rather frightening. Excellent post!