The 4th of July feels like a sad holiday to me. We celebrate an independence won over two centuries ago, like an out of shape former athlete reminiscing about his glory days on the high school football team.
What we need independence from today isn’t the British — who seem about as threatening as a glass of warm Ovaltine — but from modern tyrannies like big business and, of course, the national security state.
I’m with you on this 4th being a sad one, that’s for sure. It was easy to lightly appreciate what the battles of long ago had wrought us. We had stability and a positive outlook.
Now we have one side that is foaming at the mouth to get power back so they can abuse it and the other that will do what they always do: come up with 100 different ideas and end up doing nothing.
This election doesn’t decide anything. It’s just a marker of when everything will go to complete shit… Now? Or later? Eventually the right will be in power and they will play the same script they always play. “This group is terrorists, so the white house must do this horrible thing.” They’ll manufacturer some garbage their base will gobble up (laden in fear mongering and hatred as usual), and the atrocities will commence.
Enjoy this 4th, it may be the last “normal” one. Just beware of the super patriot dressed in the flag. He’s far more likely to murder his fellow countryman for not having identical beliefs.
It was always thus
This was the point of Thomas Jefferson saying that a little revolution every now and again is a healthy thing. If there’s ever a population that’s just sitting around assuming everything is gonna be okay because of “the leaders,” or just passively observing that the leaders aren’t good, and therefore, oh no!, or anything like that, that’s a recipe for bad bad trouble.
It’s you and me man
"What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”
https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/tree-liberty-quotation/
We made it over a century and a half, but only barely. I don’t think these words were meant to hold up in today’s society. How is it possible that you can quote somebody from TJ’s time and say that it is at all like our time? Let’s face it, he was just a prognosticating bullshitter. To look back at a quote like this to justify the actions of the present is a horrific and insensitive thing to do.
Or, as someone from a revolutionary time, it could be his perspective on why revolution is necessary.
How about we send all the religious people on to the next country again? Just put them on a boat, wish them the best of luck, and don’t let them come back.
Not really any countries left, maybe we should just send all of them into space. Maybe they can find their god out there.
I don’t think anyone has claimed the Great Pacific garbage patch yet. I’d say that’s prime real estate for them.
We could build an ark for them, maybe. Two arks. There could be an “A” ark, and then a “B” ark…
The tale of the B Ark is a warning. The civilization that sent it died due to a disease spread on telephones. All that was left was the worst of them, which became us.
One of the most believable things about Starship Troopers and The Expanse was that the Mormons were colonizing other worlds, ostensibly for religious liberty.
Do we have to wish them good luck?
No, and let’s ship them to the great pacific garbage patch.
Now, now…
There’s always room to be gracious and polite when you’re forcibly relocating an entire population.
I’d be ok with just the most misogynistic religion losing half its adherents.
I can tolerate most religions even if I disagree with them.
But yea, I am not a fan of religions.
Consider, for instance, the publicly available itemized list of weapons provided to Ukraine, which the administration periodically updates. The transparency is because of fear of Congress taking the money away, and it is a signal to NATO that it had better follow suit. But still, the accounting is made public and the public benefits.
And yet no such list is available for U.S. military aid to Israel. (I’ve written about this here.)
“We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course,” White House national security spokesperson retired rear admiral John Kirby said of U.S. arms assistance to Israel.
That’s because the admin considers Israel as a real ally, while Ukraine is a mere tool in the war against Russia.
The operational security of Ukraine is not that important to the admin.
Ukraine will be abandoned at some point or at least transfered over from the care of the USA to the care of the EU, and let EU do with Ukraine what EU wants.
In any case Israel =/= Ukraine, nor should they be equal.
That said I agree that the number 1 priority of our admin should be the American people! Instead the admin uses the American people as pawns in a geopolitical game of chess where the primary and often the only beneficiaries are the superrich.
Independence from fossil fuels would be nice
Would be exceptionally easy for the U.S., the renewable power potential is enormous and making E-Fuels or E-Crude is pretty damn easy. It’s not very efficient, but 0 Co2 is 0 Co2.
But the best part is, it’s actually economically viable. Many parts around the world agreed to a Co2 Tax, making Fossile Fuels increasingly expensive - synthetic fuels, gasses, paraffines all would be exempt. And all those that want to drive 1000 Miles on one tank, do a cannonball run or tow a few tons can still do in whatever way they want…just without Co2. Hell, even the coal rollers can do just that…
Overall however, saving democracy and the constitution should be top priority…
The 4th Of July is only a “holiday” to blow shit up. It no longer holds any reverence for our most prized assets, Freedom and Independence. Enjoy your day, hope your neighbors with $2000 worth of small explosives don’t burn your house down.
