God Bless Freakin America

 

It's that time of year again.  The dogs get a little antsy, the sky lights up, friends gather, businesses shut down, smokers and grills fire up, and flags fly.  I prefer the name "Independence Day" to "4th of July", not because it was the name of a pretty cool movie, but because of where it places my focus.  Beer, BBQ, bros, and blowing things up in the sky and mostly blowing up things everywhere else makes for some fun and lasting memories, but doesn't take my reminiscences quite far enough back.  All of that isn't the purpose of the day in my mind, it's all a means of celebration things much more grand.

I want to do the best I can annually to go back in my mind 246 years ago to Independence Hall trying to put myself in the place of one of those men who sat, stood, paced the floor as they haggled, debated, pondered, argued, agreed, disagreed, and envisioned something new for people who had sailed to this distant continent.  I've been in that building in Philadelphia, which like a lot of things which are only pictured and imagined is a lot less square footage than I thought.  But massively significant decisions were made there.  These colonials sought to formally break ties with the English monarchy which they felt was overbearing and infringed on the innate human desire for freedom, for liberty, for life without a big brother disallowing individuals to be a part of the process of governing themselves.  As you look back at historical accounts, never did freedom mean license, anarchy, or chaotic hedonism. They seemed to understand that freedom and order, independence within a framework of law, values, and morals were not contradictory.  

The day, on July 4th, that document was voted on ratified by the Continental Congress and after multiple revisions resulting from healthy and sometimes heated debate was signed by the members.  Signing that document had to be overwhelming in many ways.  There was no internet, cell phones, or the like to deliver that document to England, formerly saying "We've got together and agreed to sever ties with y'all and live life on our terms over here.  See ya!".  They knew this would unleash the beast. The king had already demonstrated his ruthless desire to cling to his 'rights' to those people with wars, spies, taxes, lack of concern, and ultimately bloodshed.  These "misguided rebels" would lose many fighters for freedom coupled with smallpox, many more than the kings men.  But that misguided and ignorant ideal and dream that these folks could live without the superior wisdom of the monarchy would ultimately lead to the signing of a treaty in England.  Also it had to be overwhelming because now they had to figure out what this free and independent country would look like and how it would function to maintain what they had declared to England.

There were a lot of details to be worked out, and in reality many of those details are still being worked out, but the dream was still alive.  For that dream and ideal we celebrate.  And we should.  Were our forefathers perfect?  Far from it.  Some worked hard even then to end slavery but failed initially.  The way the native inhabitants were treated was far from fair and ideal in the majority of circumstances.  But no one had ever tried anything like this before.  Were their decisions perfect?  No.  But I think it comes in well ahead of anything in second place.

In my mind, outside of the failures, it was an amazingly brilliant risk to take in order to at least attempt to bring people 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.  Should the imperfections, and massive failures cause us to liquidate the whole thing and go backwards?  God forbid.  I believe we are at least making strides to move toward making right the wrongs, however imperfect those attempts may be. 

Sadly the dream, 'old glory', the constitution, the system and branches of government in which we live are being treated as the enemy.  So many people seem to be wanting the 'football' - THE football - passed to them so they can nuke the whole thing, metaphorically only - I hope.  It seems as if many people, because they don't get the immediate social outcomes they want, they want to throw everything in the trash can in order to get what they want.  They fail to realize it's possible to get what you want accomplished, but the process takes time.  Sometimes there are more folks -the majority- who don't want what they want, so their ideals are not immediately obtainable.  The intent of those rebels of old seemed to be that the starting place was that of ideas, the battlefield of ideas was to be in dialogue, debate, and education. Our instant "I want it and I want it NOW" society can't wait for the process of building coalitions and going through the long process of change.  Immediacy throws the baby out with the bathwater. 

To those who want to demolish and rebuild I want to say: Travel more.  Go spend a little time in some of those countries who have to live with the system you desire.  I learned quickly to appreciate our own imperfections a little bit more.  I've been in countries where you have to bribe police officers to travel.  You must pass through government checkpoints with officials who can make your life very difficult at a whim.  I've been in countries where citizens carry sawed off shotguns down the street, threatening to shoot others who look at them wrong.  Power trips, bribes, forced conformity, strictly limited liberties are the rule of every day for every person.  People in our nations defined poverty level are rich in comparison.  So yeah.  Travel.

The flag, our systems, patriotism, freedoms and pride in country are being demonized as a bad thing.  I don't believe that we should hold up symbols and systems as supreme, or idolize them.  History has told us that doesn't end well.  However, I have a flag on the porch because it's a symbol of that initial dream and ideal in which I still believe.  These common things from the very beginning were meant to be a symbol to unite us, to pull us together, to rally us in good times and in bad.  We are a part of the UNITED States.  I'm grateful for what we have, and I vote so the things I believe in can come to pass or be upheld.  I'm willing to put up with some things with which I don't agree, and patiently work at bringing people around to the same point of view, all the while reminding myself to keep the door cracked open to the possibility I may be wrong.  We can disagree on things and still be friends. We can be agreeable in our disagreements.  We MUST or we're done already.

Some may think I'm going to move into preaching now, so if you're not so inclined, let the last paragraph be the end of the post for you, and my sincere thanks for reading up to this point.  I appreciate you taking the time to read my humble musings.

I heard a talk show host say this week that "we're in a theocracy right now" as if that is a bad thing.  As I read the bible, some of the biggest problems for humanity started when the people begged God for a king over them 'like the other nations'.  It had been a theocracy up to that point.  The first king, Saul, was a major fail as the people gave up true freedom and independence.  The more I study and live, the more I realize that theocracy (God rule) is the ultimate expression of freedom and liberty.  Too many people mistakenly believe that theocracy is limiting, strict, and confining.  It's the exact opposite.  I could argue for it, but I'm afraid it would fall on deaf ears.  It has to be lived and experienced to be ultimately proven.  

I believe we live in one of the best places on the planet. If I don't get the laws, rulings, legal interpretations I want in this country, God is still in charge, it's ok.  If what globalists desire comes to pass, if America is dismantled and becomes socialist/communist or falls apart altogether, I know that ultimately the king of all kings, of all presidents, of all dictators, despots and the like is in charge ultimately an always has been.  My life will go on. I will survive.  It's not the end of the world until the end of the world.  Until then, I ultimately live with ultimate citizenship elsewhere with an amazingly wise, benevolent, loving, and good King.  And I intend to live for and serve that government which will  outlive this life.  If all of the freedoms the signers of the declaration intended for me are stripped away, I'm still free. Fully and completely free.

In the meantime, I'll live my life honoring the symbols and structures of the country who with all of its problems has allowed me to live a pretty dang good life.  I'll celebrate Independence Day gladly.  I may choose whiskey over beer, but the rest could be on the table.  I'm grateful I live in this country.  One in which I can write and voice any opinion without fear of government officials knocking on my door to silence me or haul me to prison for my dissent.  One in which I have a voice, a vote, and a great appreciation. And I intend to express and exercise them all until I can no longer do so.  The rebel colonial in me may even continue to express them when disallowed.  Here's hoping you don't have to find out. Happy Independence Day, and may God bless America!  FG