Independence Day

     Today is a day to...what?  Wave the flag, set off fireworks, recite Francis Bellamy's Pledge, sing the national anthem and chant "USA... USA... USA..?"

     Yes, that's some of it.

     The men who signed their name to that document on 2 July, 1776* were thinking about more than noise and thunder (for all some of them did consider just that†).  They had in mind an idea, a wild and dangerous notion that ordinary citizens were fit to manage their own affairs and, in combination, to manage their government.  What they had put together by 1776 was ramshackle, improvised, suited well enough to the purpose of breaking away from the mother country but only barely.  The other thing they had was confidence they -- and their successors -- could continue their Great Experiment in self-government.

     The were loyal to an idea.  Not to a man, or a flag or a symbol; not to any one church, nor to any particular faction or party.  Even so apparently homogeneous a group as the signers of the Declaration of Independence were wildly assorted, and the new country they proposed to establish was even more so.

     So how will you celebrate this day?  How will you participate in America's Great Experiment?  By all means, have parades, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations -- but take a little time to read through the Bill of Rights.  Take a little time with the Constitution.  Take a step back from partisan politics and the game of outrage and consider these words:

"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.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...."

     There's nothing in there about kicking around the powerless using government as a bludgeon, nor anything about putting a thumb to the scales to uplift or bring down.  The Declaration of Independence is not a part of our foundational law, but the idea that everyone has the same basic, inherent rights is baked right into the bricks of our national foundation, however many times we have fallen short of that ideal and struggled to catch up.

     Set off fireworks.  Celebrate  Don't be an asshole -- and mind you're not voting for them, either.
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* It takes time to get anything printed and distributed; in 1776, two days was staggeringly quick.
 
† "...[I]t will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more." John Adams, writing to his wife Abigail about July Second.