CCXLVI. Oh, and XXVI, 2!

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Ah, facts.  Long before our current president, we weren’t always meticulous about dates and facts.   After all, we did decide to use 4 July 1776  as the date we proclaimed our independence from Britain.  Even if the Declaration of Independence was issued two or three days earlier.  And, that means we celebrate our Freedom 241 years later today.  (Thankfully, it is not among those days that Congress, in its infinite wisdom [read as stupidity], elected to move to Mondays, affording a longer weekend. )  We celebrate the day with fireworks, with going to the beach, with barbeques, and with get-togethers.

Four Freedoms
Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms

I, personally, detest those folks who want to celebrate the day with their “Love it or leave it” attitudes.  And, while that attitude had attenuated over the last decades, it’s pretty evident that our current situation is reviving this misguided notion.  Most of the adherents seem to only have a cartoon idea of what it is that America originated and for what it stands.  Especially as our government routinely violates our Constitution and its first 10 Amendments (which we term our “Bill of Rights”), in the name of protecting us.

Let us celebrate the idea of America.  By making sure we make it the reality of America.

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.

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

Dan's Birth Announcement

Oh, and happy birthday to my son, Daniel, who graced this world 26 years ago today.

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17 thoughts on “CCXLVI. Oh, and XXVI, 2!”

  1. I had no idea that the Declaration of INdependence was actually issued a couple of days earlier. Wonder why they chose the 4th

    1. They chose the fourth, because that’s when they got the printed versions for distribution to the states. John Adams had written to Abigail (his wife) that July 2 was going to be a day that the folks in the States would remember for a long time…NOT!

  2. Great post. It is important that we always work to make it a more perfect union. The ideals of America require all of us citizens to help make it the reality of America. Happy 4th of July to you and happy birthday to your son.

  3. I work with someone born on the 4th of July and she was around 6 before she realized all the fuss wasn’t because people were celebrating her birthday. What a day to be born – a day so misunderstood. For too many people it becomes an occasion to get drunk and (perhaps) shoot their fingers off misusing fireworks. You were fortunate spending the years you did in Charlottesville. When I go there (twice in the past 18 months, and again in August), I feel so close to history.

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  5. Thank you for this. Our nation is in terrible peril these days. If we lose our freedoms, it won’t be the result of some evil foreign power, it will be because we choose not to exercise them anymore.

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