Hoppy Fourth

[Call_me_jorge]

Happy Fourth of July. The DOB of our nation. Although I'm not in love with this country at the moment, I'm still hopeful for the future and 2018. Let's hope Trump resigns tomorrow! Enjoy all of your festivities! 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Hoppy Fourth to you all!

[Liza's Headband]

You seem to be in love with Canada, jorge.  Why not just move there? 

[kdogg36]

Here's what my friend Adam Bates posted on Facebook. Sums it up nicely for me.

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If I indulge my nationalist impulse and pretend that a country means anything on July 4th, I would exhort Americans to understand that exceptionalism was meant as an aspiration, not an excuse.

The first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence give me chills every time I read them. A society that manifested those values truly would be exceptional.

Instead, we take pride in the mere fact that we are the arbitrary progeny of such people with such ideas, and exploit that unearned pride to gloss over our centuries of desecrating those principles.

The American nation was an idea of enlightened liberalism that required the rejection of the tribalist nationalism that repeatedly drenched the Old World in blood.

Not only do we reject that aspiration, we tread on it every day. American nationalism is a violent, thuggish, ignorant malignancy that has killed millions of innocent people over nothing. It has sought war where peace existed, it has created an indefensible empire, it has made a mockery of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all."

America wasn't meant to be exceptional by fiat, it was meant to be exceptional by right action and moral conduct. By virtually any measure, we as a society have failed the test assigned to us. And, worst of all, we relish in it. We luxuriate in the fact that we answer dissent with force, that we answer defiance with murder, that millions cower in fear at the thought of us.

We pat ourselves on the back for principles we despise, and we reap the profits of the very institutions we try to burn down every time they stop us from doing something hideous.

To me, the 4th is not a time to celebrate the American empire, or to swell with pride at the militarist parades, or to worship the false heroes of the government's insatiable lust for unnecessary violence. It's a time to spend in quiet introspection and prayer, to wonder how or if we can ever attain those aspirations that have averted our gaze for centuries

[Call_me_jorge]

Liza's Headband said: "You seem to be in love with Canada, jorge.  Why not just move there? 

 

"

I'm only 18. 

[Liza's Headband]

18 is the perfect age to start a new life in Canada 

[SNAFU]

Isn't it wonderful that we live in a country where we can opening criticize our government and state our unhappiness without fear or reprisals? That is except from a few azzholes who troll message boards.

[sabrelady]

hip hop 4th of July My Yankee peeps!  Gawd bless the Hue ESS HAY!!

BOOYah!

[South Florida]

Passionate and all too true kdogg.  We can't begin to be in total despair about the good and bad of our nation.  We've done good things and we can do them in the future.  We elected a black man president 8 years ago and again.  I was proud of America on those days.  Here's to hoping we'll still get it right.

[sabrelady]

Gonna build a mountain
From a little hill
Gonna build me a mountain
'Least I hope I will
Gonna build a mountain
Gonna build it high
I don't know how I'm gonna do it
I only know I'm gonna try

Gonna build me a daydream
From a little hope
Gonna push that daydream
Up the mountain slope
Gonna build a daydream
Gonna see it through
Gonna build a mountain and a daydream
Gonna make them both come true

Gonna build a heaven
From a little hell
Gonna build me a heaven
And I know darn well
If I build my mountain with a lot of care
And take my daydream up the mountain
And heaven will be waiting there

 

2018   South Florida