ndrosen | Entries tagged with independence day

I got to see some fireworks last night.

For those who are interested, here’s an article by Randy Barnett on what the Declaration of Independence said and meant.

I posted an Independence Day greeting in 2018 (when the late Senator McCain was suffering from terminal cancer), and I think that I would do well to repeat it now:

Happy Birthday, dear country.

I saw a cartoon in the form of a card saying “Get well soon,” addressed to the GOP, and signed by John McCain.

Get well soon, dear country. Please recover from your infatuation with a demagogue and buffoon. He isn’t good enough for you, dear country. He doesn’t really love you, or appreciate what makes you special, even though he says he’ll make you great again. He’s likely to hurt you badly if you let him. And it’s not just him: even after he dies, or loses an election, or is exposed, impeached, and removed from office, there will be others like him, trying to follow in his footsteps. There will also be radicals of the left, claiming to be the alternative to him and his pack of sycophants, fascists, and alt-right cockroaches.

I’d like to say you’re better than that, but face it, sometimes you haven’t been. Sometimes you’ve given your affections to demagogues, Klanscum, and fools before. And yet, you have your ideals and worthy traditions, even if you haven’t always lived up to them. Sometimes you have listened to the better angels of your nature, elected wise and decent men, even if they were flawed as all mortals are flawed, set injustices to right, and left the demagogues of the left and right to harangue supporters gathered in telephone booths.

Nonetheless, I have hope for you. Happy Birthday, many happy returns, and may better birthdays come. May you come to reject the yahoos, give ear to the wise, and address your real problems.

One thing which I did not foresee six years ago was that in 2024, disgraced ex-President Trump would have a good prospect of becoming the second man to serve two non-consecutive terms as President of the United States, although in his case, “disserve” might be the more appropriate verb. I will attempt no further political analysis; there is a holiday to celebrate, and for now, we still have a free if imperfect country. Come what may, let us strive to practice fortitude, and do what we can to put and keep our nation on the right path.

In a belated report: I saw fireworks Tuesday evening.

Our country has its problems, and there are always reasons for concern, but, at least for now, we don’t have Donald Trump or a Trumpublican in the White House. President Biden is a politician with whom I have disagreements, and he isn’t as bright as might be wished, but he is not a Russian asset or a devoted enemy of the Constitution.

I remember the Bicentennial celebration, when, as a gloomy eleven year old, I was worried about the survival of the country and of civilization, with the threats of nuclear war and resource depletion. We have survived forty-seven more anniversaries, and whatever our current and impending problems, there is hope.

Happy birthday, dear country. We are now forty-six years past the Bicentennial celebration, which I remember, and in those years, there have been many times when I feared for the future of my country, as I still do. Such is the nature of life, that there always alarms, always clouds on the horizon, always fools and scoundrels posing threats to the well-being of the nation and its people. International developments are worrisome; there are prospects of conflict with a rising China, which seeks to export its authoritarian model of society, and to annex Taiwan. It is also possible that Putin, who may not have long to live in any event, will respond to the frustration of his attempt to conquer Ukraine by going nuclear. It is also a concern that the consequences of years of overspending by our own federal government will be brought home in the form of fiscal and economic crisis, and that the continued emission of greenhouse gases will result in drastic climatic problems.

Despite all this and more, I note with satisfaction that, whatever his shortcomings, our current President is not a Russian asset, and that our country is aiding Ukraine in resisting aggression. I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s words: “In granting freedom to the slave, we secure it for ourselves, honorable alike in what we give and what we gain.”

And so, despite all of our concerns, let us celebrate, let us watch fireworks, let us read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, let us eat some of the delicious cherries which are in season, and let us resolve to face the uncertain future with courage and with as much wisdom as lies within our capacity.

The past several years, during the administration of Dishonest Donald, I posted an annual birthday and get-well-soon message to my country, concluding with the sentence, “Happy Birthday, many happy returns, and may better birthdays come. May you come to reject the yahoos, give ear to the wise, and address your real problems.”

I am pleased to observe that this has partly, although only partly, come to pass. The fascists lost the election, although more than seventy million Americans voted to re-elect Trump; however imperfect the wisdom of President Biden and his advisors, our new president is not an ignorant moron and complete fraud to the marrow of his bones, nor is his administration staffed with grifters and alt-right fascists.

Real problems are being addressed to some extent, but only to some extent. The current administration is not indifferent to the threat of the Earth being made uninhabitable, even if its environmental policies are open to criticism; Mr. Biden is not a Russian asset, nor blind to the need for international cooperation on some issues. Unfortunately, President Biden thinks that he will do the country good by “going big” on government spending and borrowing, doing special favors for labor unions and crony capitalists, and ignoring the threats posed by the spiraling national debt. We stand in need of statesmen with a different agenda for addressing our real problems.

That said, a reading of history shows that human societies, including the United States of America, have almost always been lurching from one crisis to another, and in most cases have been able to recover themselves somehow, although not without ugly messes and real human suffering. Things could be better and could be worse; one may at least hope that with an odious demagogue out of office, the sane and decent elements of the Left and Right will not do too badly at dealing with the country’s moral, international, ecological, financial, and other challenges.

People do not typically think of “Silent Cal” Coolidge as an orator, but, although often taciturn in conversation, he was quite capable of writing and speaking with eloquence. It is also worth remembering of him that, although called a conservative, he was anti-racist by the standards of his time, a time when “scientific racism” was in vogue among some leading Progressives, and he urged Congress to pass a national anti-lynching law, to remedy the deplorable unwillingness of many of the states to enforce their laws against murder when the victims were black.

My friends may therefore be interested in reading about his 1926 Independence Day address, in which he set forth why the Declaration of Independence will never be outmoded. This was at a time when many Southerners and others denied the equality of the dark-skinned, and when some on the Left believed that progress required, not only some adjustments to existing arrangements, but the wholesale rejection of limited government and respect for the rights of the individual. Woodrow Wilson comes to mind.

On this date in 2018, I posted an entry which may be worthy of being reread, and is therefore copied below. I very much hope that, whatever our problems in future years, or the folly and venality of our elected leaders, this post will be a period piece in no need of republication.

I saw a cartoon recently in the form of a card saying “Get well soon,” addressed to the GOP, and signed by John McCain.

Get well soon, dear country. Please recover from your infatuation with a demagogue and buffoon. He isn’t good enough for you, dear country. He doesn’t really love you, or appreciate what makes you special, even though he says he’ll make you great again. He’s likely to hurt you badly if you let him. And it’s not just him: even after he dies, or loses an election, or is exposed, impeached, and removed from office, there will be others like him, trying to follow in his footsteps. There will also be radicals of the left, claiming to be the alternative to him and his pack of sycophants, fascists, and alt-right cockroaches.

I’d like to say you’re better than that, but let’s face it: sometimes you haven’t been. Sometimes you’ve given your affections to demagogues, Klanscum, and fools before. And yet, you have ideals and worthy traditions, even if you haven’t always lived up to them. Sometimes you have listened to the better angels of your nature, elected wise and decent men, even if they were flawed as all mortals are flawed, set injustices to right, and left the demagogues of the left and right to harangue supporters gathered in telephone booths.

Nonetheless, I have hope for you. Happy Birthday, many happy returns, and may better birthdays come. May you come to reject the yahoos, give ear to the wise, and address your real problems.

The fireworks display over Washington was magnificent, and since I watched it from across the Potomac in Arlington, I didn’t have to listen to what our toddler president had to say.

Before the Fourth becomes the Fifth, let me recommend what Randy Barnett had to say today about the meaning of the Declaration of Independence.

Last year, I posted a birthday greeting and get-well letter or my country, which I flatter myself, may be worth rereading, since a demagogue who despises the Constitution is still president. There is also a piece at Reason remembering H.L. Mencken, and his fears that the American people would someday elect a genuine moron and a worse demagogue than Franklin Roosevelt, which has come to pass.

Come the evening of the Fourth, I hope to see and enjoy the fireworks, and to Tuonela with Dishonest Donald’s attempt to make our national day all about him.

Happy Birthday, dear country.

I saw a cartoon recently in the form of a card saying “Get well soon,” addressed to the GOP, and signed by John McCain.

Get well soon, dear country. Please recover from your infatuation with a demagogue and buffoon. He isn’t good enough for you, dear country. He doesn’t really love you, or appreciate what makes you special, even though he says he’ll make you great again. He’s likely to hurt you badly if you let him. And it’s not just him: even after he dies, or loses an election, or is exposed, impeached, and removed from office, there will be others like him, trying to follow in his footsteps. There will also be radicals of the left, claiming to be the alternative to him and his pack of sycophants, fascists, and alt-right cockroaches.

I’d like to say you’re better than that, but let’s face it: sometimes you haven’t been. Sometimes you’ve given your affections to demagogues, Klanscum, and fools before. And yet, you have ideals and worthy traditions, even if you haven’t always lived up to them. Sometimes you have listened to the better angels of your nature, elected wise and decent men, even if they were flawed as all mortals are flawed, set injustices to right, and left the demagogues of the left and right to harangue supporters gathered in telephone booths.

Nonetheless, I have hope for you. Happy Birthday, many happy returns, and may better birthdays come. May you come to reject the yahoos, give ear to the wise, and address your real problems.