US Independence Day

Today is one of the most important holidays to me.  It isn't the actual establishment of my country, it is the day we declared our INTENT to become one (and why).  The difference matters.  Upon the actual signing of The Declaration Of Independence (from Britain), it was an utterly uncertain thing.  A bunch of unhappy British colonists complaining that they were represented in British Government and deciding that they were willing to fight about it.

And quite frankly, a bunch of rich colonists who were landowners and merchants who owed a lot of money to British banks and the Government and could conveniently be free of them if they got separated.

My first college textbook was 'The Economic Causes Of The Revolution' and while 'Government And Politic Science' was my major, history was my love.

But when push came to shove, it wasn't just the rich (indebted) landowners who fought.  The colonists were of British descent (mostly) and shared a common past and social structure.  A lot of poor colonists had little to gain except freedom from taxes they had no say about.

A lot of fighting went on, the British found less support over here than they expected, The French Navy turned up at a good point, and Britain discovered that fighting a war across an ocean using sailing ships didn't work very well.

Example:  One British General asked for 950 horses.  Half died on the way and most of the survivors were too ill to be useful.

Example:  The British Generals decided that fighting the colonists in New England and the Mid Atlantic States wasn't working, so they went to the Southern colonies where people were "more British".  Seldom was a worse decision ever made.  The Southern colonists didn't fight stand-up battles like the British army was used to.  They attacked in swamps, in woods, anyplace where there couldn't be a decisive battle.

Eventually, Britain decided it had more important places to fight about.  And they were right, because the former colonists had few places to trade with but Britain and France and France wasn't the major trading power.

So why do I honor this day above almost all others?

Because of what we said in our Declaration Of Independence.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Etc...

We have not met those goals completely; it is possible we never will.  There will always be challenges.  But they ARE goals we keep closer to our hearts than some realize.

In spite of occasional presidential flaws like Donald Trump (there have been some real fails in the past too),  the majority of US citizenry holds to those goals.  We will weather this current error and recover from it. 

But for today, I mostly want to honor the start of the US, with some background...

And, as is my habit on this day, I will read the entire Declaration out loud on the deck (quietly)...

Independence Day

We celebrate with this day that represents the day our Independence was announced to the world...  And also acknowledge the nation of Britain  (our very good friends) that set us to begin and gave us much of our beginning.

It was not an easy separation, but, as a child leaves the parent and also a servant leaves the master, the separation occurred.

That our relation has come to steadfast admiration and support over time is possibly unique in history, we also remember that this day.

But today we DO celebrate our freedom, born in battle, blood, and explosions.

Independence Day

Fourth Of July

Independence Day

I normally just observe it quietly, but I've been thinking about it more the past few years.   Maybe its because I got my degree in Government and Politics and minored in History (mostly English history).

I could just put up a big US Flag .jpeg, but I want to say more than that this year.

The US exists because of England.  We were a colony/colonies at first, but there were other colonies in North America from other European nations.  It was the English system of laws that got the colonies established as they were, when other nations failed at that. 

England (and eventually Great Britain) should be proud of its colonial offspring.  Yes, some things went imperfectly, and there were dark moments in history.  But England gave its colonies some special gifts.  Like political organization, merchant classes, a basic concept of "rule of law", an economic middle class, and business.

Few European nations managed that (yes, the Dutch etc).  But England had the combination of legal systems, economic systems, and social mobility that increased in what became the US.  I'm not forgetting our Canadian friends, but my point is about the US today.

We owe England a lot.  Yes there was the revolution, and the War of 1812 isn't a bright spot for anyone either.  Even in our terribly uncivil Civil War there were doubts about our relations.  But its been good, nay, "better than good" since then.  It would be hard to think of any 2 nations better friends over a century+ (and Australia and Canada). 

A few centuries from now, history will tell of the time of Great Britain, the US, Canada, and Australia as perhaps the greatest peacetime and wartime allies advancing democracy around the world.  It might be called Pax Americana, but it all came from England originally.

So I just want to say Thank You Britain on THIS day because I know where it all started...  Britain, your children owe you.

But, of course, I HAVE to show the flag, LOL...