I stepped out last night to a barrage of illegal fireworks set off by the neighbors all around me. I shouted aloud to the darkness, "Do you even know what you are celebrating? Do you even care?" I don't think they do. I don't think most people, even people who live here, really appreciate what it means to be an American. Last Thursday, I watched a video on youtube where students at UC Berkeley didn't know what the purpose of the 4th was. I've seen videos from UCB before in which students display a wanton aversion for everything American until they stand to benefit from it. We all make jokes about holidays created by the greeting card companies, but I think even Independence Day has been bastardized by commercial interests until people look at it only as an excuse to get off work, light things on fire, and gorge themselves on traditional foods. We have fallen out of touch with America; we have fallen out of love with America; we have allowed too many people into America who do not want to be here and do not respect our history, traditions, and government. Like Rome before us, it becomes more and more about less and less until we celebrate absolutely nothing.
Many of them actually hate America. I hear complaints all the time about America, Americans, and American traditions. Even Americans seem to hate America, to be embarassed to be Americans, and to desire to radically transform it to be more like the socialistic cesspools in Europe. This one day a year, they all rush out to buy fireworks, which you can't do in most other nations, and then they violate our laws by shooting them off into the air. Monday morning, there were two cops parked in front of my house responding to underage drinking and illegal fireworks; if you love America, why do you violate our laws? If you really think it's virtuous and right to come here, why do you violate our laws in order to come? They are celebrating the power to do something you can't do anywhere else and get away with it. If you did this in any of the tyrannical regimes they think we ought to resemble, you'd probably be beat by the cops, not to mention arrested without charge, convicted without testimony, imprisoned without appeal, and executed without mercy. This is the best nation on the earth, perhaps the best one that ever was, but the people who live here fell out of love with America, much like the politicians who lead them, and who caricature their enemies and lionize people they do not know and would not probably like if they ever actually met. Almost nobody seems to follow the law anymore, and despite the lip service paid by politicians to Constitutional Law and the oaths they took to sustain and defend it, most of them tear it to shreds in order to elevate themselves and then demand its protections. You can't claim the benefits of America if you flagrantly defy and denigrate its principles, values, precepts, and policies. You do what it takes to please someone or something you love; you don't treat it like garbage and expect it to love you anyway.
Many of them aren't American citizens. Last time I saw my neighbor to the south when I put up my flag, he glared at me. I know they are Mexicans, and although I don't know if they're here legally or not, I do know that he looked at me as if it was a "I hate Mexico" flag. It says nothing of the sort. I fly it because I respect my ancestors who fought for this nation, for my family members and friends who fight for it, and for all the good things it represents. When I jogged through the neighborhood to the north of mine, peopled predominantly with latino families, I balked at the piles of rubbish in the streets and gutters from their pyrotechnics last evening, because I know that they are not from here and probably complain about the people who are and what we do. It amazes me that so many people are willing to come to a nation they consider to be so mean and racist; if America is evil, why are they here, and why in Hoboken do they light off fireworks to commemorate her official birth? My British friend was deported several months back, because he's been in America in violation of his Visa for 20 years, but he would sing in church on the 4th. I doubt these people really cared about America. I didn't see a single flag in the neighborhood, but they sure drove my dog crazy with fireworks last night.
Almost none of them really understand the purpose of the day. Far too many of my text messages were "Happy 4th". Fourth of what? It's not any more significant that it was the 4th of July than Cinco de Mayo. Unlike Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates a minor battle in an insignificant war (when Mexico defeated France at Pueblo), the 4th of July celebrates the very first time in world history that a nation declared that the people were more powerful than the government. Our declaration of independence declares that men have the power to alter or abolish government if it becomes corrupt, overbearing, or contrary to their laws of happiness. Even some guy at church, with a JD and a PhD in American History wrongly declared from the pulpit that our rights come from the Constitution. The Declaration of Independence clearly delineates that we are endowed by OUR CREATOR with rights. If they come from government, which is comprised of fallen men, they can be taken away from us by government when men fall into the trap of tyranny, debauchery, greed and anarchy, but if they come from God, then no man or woman can take them from us without consequence. Then there are the families. I think far too many people think this is just another day to ignite fireworks. I took my framed copy of the Declaration of Independence, which hangs above a model of the USS Constitution, off the wall in my library to read in the handwriting of the men who committed treason in sending it to King George in the first place. Then again, one among them declared that resistance to tyrants is obedience to God (Benjamin Franklin), which I honor above all earthly kings, powers, rulers and magistrates. That's what today is really about- America exists because God loves men and wants them to be free, even if they desire to ignore Him, and to always be free from the chains of bondage of every kind. That's what the Fourth of July is all about, and it has never happened in modern history. It is not an accident that the header to this blog quotes Leviticus 25:10 "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof". That's my mission. I declare that God's purpose, that America's purpose, and that my purpose is to proclaim liberty- politically, spiritually, physically, financially, socially, vocationally, intellectually, and in every other way. Like the author of our Declaration, Thomas Jefferson wrote, I have sworn on the altar of freedom eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of men, and I mean it. I detest bullies.
I know that these opinions are probably not very popular, but I don't really care. I pledge allegiance to this flag, and if that bothers you, then that's too bad (Aaron Tipton), and if you think that I should tolerate your aberrant and abhorrent behavior while demanding that I acquiesce to your every demand, you have another thing coming. I am not going to become what you tolerate. Happy is the kingdom whose God is the Lord. I pledge allegiance to Him, to that Constitution He inspired those men of Philadelphia to write. For me, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are akin to holy scripture. For me, this nation is a great blessing, a sign of His approbation and love for His children. For me, this is a place to live according to the dictates of my own conscience. It's not just about doing what I like; it's about doing what I ought. Freedom isn't in giving in to your inhibitions. Freedom exists in being the best you can be in all circumstances, and nowhere else has that ever been possible to my knowledge like it is and has been here. God bless America and all those who love her, love to be here, and love those who made her possible more than two centuries after her inception. Let freedom ring.
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