What is the point of the 4th of July? I mean the real point, not the canned “to celebrate our independence and the birth of our country” answer. Because we all know that’s B.S., there’s not a whole lot to celebrate. In fact I think it’s rude to celebrate when we are in the middle of a war and occupation and losing young American soldiers every day.
But what about celebrating the land of democracy and freedom? Is that what the 4th of July is about?
This country ain’t exactly a shining example of democracy and freedom. 230 years after the fact and we still don’t have a democratic voting system working in Ohio. And our Constitutional freedoms are being erased bit by bit every day in the name of “National Security.” Thank you Patriot Act! Who needs privacy anyway? Here’s a list of my last 100 phone calls, last week’s bank transactions, and what I had for breakfast this morning.
We shouldn’t pretend we are actually uphelding the original principles this country was founded on. I do believe we fought for our independence so we wouldn’t be England’s colonial bitch anymore, and now we’re going around the world building our own colonies? But we don’t call it that anymore, we call it “regime change”, “fighting the war on terror”, “liberating those poor people who live in the desert and can’t vote.” Anything so long as you don’t call it “global domination!!!”
Many people will be looking at fireworks in the sky tonight or maybe tomorrow night. Of course they’ll play “God Bless the USA” somewhere in the middle of our beloved pyrotechnic-displays-of-patriotism. What do you think that means to the 2,535 American families who have lost somebody in this war? Do you think if you lost a son or daughter in Iraq and heard that song you’d say “aww, that’s sweet. Hey look, the fireworks are in the shape of a flag, neat.” Because I sure as hell wouldn’t. I used to get goosebumps when they’d play that song. Now I realize I was just being sold. People’s sons and daughters didn’t die for this, and they sure didn’t die so that patriotism could be exploited and sold off as another consumerist holiday. Perhaps I’m giving too much credit calling it patriotism. It’s way past that now, it’s well into nationalism and we know what happens next.
I know lots of brave people who have served this country in the past, both through the military and National Service, and I bet they don’t appreciate their country going to shit after all they’ve done. As an AmeriCorps Alumni who gave two years of service, I know I don’t.
I, personally, am boycotting the 4th of July altogether.
- Until every last soldier is home.
- Until we see an end to every war and every occupation this country is involved in, not just Iraq, not just Afghanistan.
- Until our government spends billions of dollars on children, education, health insurance, and renewable energy. Not war.
- Until Congress actually listens and represents us, not corporations.
- Until there is something to really be proud of.
If you want to be patriotic, impeach the man who believes he’s President, and God talks directly to him (yet always forgets to remind him of that “thou shalt not kill” thing.)
If you want to be patriotic, tell our Congress to go fight in this war since they’re the ones who refuse to grow a spine and stop it. If they refuse, they don’t deserve to represent us.
If you want to be patriotic, stand up for the truth. Put down your sparklers and your beer, put your fist in the air, think for yourself, and resist.
Say no to this occupation. That is patriotic.
July 5th Update: Looks like Howard Zinn and I are in total agreement on this one.
From 
My Linksys WPC54G v1.2 wireless card had quickly become the bain of my Ubuntu existence. It was the last remaining peripheral I had yet to get working on Ubuntu. There are lots of tutorials and wikis on this subject and I think I’ve read them all in this process. This post is not meant to be a tutorial, I don’t understand Ubuntu enough to try and provide a technical resource, this is just to document my own experience.
