In the United States, the tradition continues.. Fireworks lighting up night skies over friends and family.. over patriotic Americans and even over those with a lackluster sense of history and not much concern for it in the future..
But each year that war drags on, each year that the government popularity sinks into the septic tank of American politics, and each year our country divides itself on issues on pointless as gay marriage, you need to ask yourself: Is this what our founders wanted?
The answer is YES!
Of course they did.
From an historical perspective on this country, the founding fathers were shrouded in a time when oppressive slavery was fine, women were servants and couldn't vote, and only a white over-priviledged population was able to buy land. Little did they even know what their system of freedom and Declaration of Independence would do.
It's very unfair to judge them in our context. As a matter of fact, the very way we left the King's rule and fought our revolutionary war was liberal for its time.
If you judged Ben Franklin or George Washington or Thomas Jefferson in 2007 context, they'd be impugned and lambasted for the positions they had.
But somehow, in some beautiful way, their beliefs of how government should work evolved into the free country that America is.
It's an America with problems, of course. But what country won't have problems.
Taxes are high. But we can speak out and talk back--and then vote when it comes time to "throw the bums out"..
The American people's involvement with the failed immigration bill is exactly what made it fail. Representative government knows it has to live its life by getting watched by the people that voted for them in the first place..
Republicans had a dominant control of the Senate and Congress for years.. until last year, when people voted on their belief that the system was corrupt and wrong. Democrats swept into power.
And their days are numbered, too. They were swept into power on the premise that they would stop congressional pay raises, stop the war in whatever way they could, and challenge an unpopular president. Instead, not so much of that really happened.. oh yea , and those pork-laden bills. Yea. They are back again.
But with all of these problems and all of his anger towards government, all is well.
You often hear people say the founders are rolling in their graves. Not sure why, really.
They may be unhappy on a few things.. One, for instance, the over-indulgent America continuing go get involved with other countries. I don't think the founders would have liked that. But it's also interesting to question what exactly they would have done to handle things like the Oklahoma City bombing or 9/11.. How would Benjamin Franklin think after terrorists came to the country to blow up free-loving people? Would George Washington bring the draft back? Would Abraham Lincoln suspend civil liberties all over again?
I do not believe that the country that existed 231 years ago was better than now. We continuously evolve into a better and freer people.
We have our issues, but we as a country seam to deal with them quite fine. At least so far in our 231 years.. God only knows what year 232 will bring.
But for now, even with war debates, even with constant presidential politics, and even with endless debates about social and moral issues, the founding fathers are sleeping well: We are still free to speak, write, and vote. We are still able to bring up families... and we are still able--though sometimes a desperate struggle--to find that road that keeps us on our pursuit of happiness.
231 years later. We're freer than George and Thomas. We're constantly better.
And the fireworks above us are not meant to damage the citizens of the nation. It's our duty to history and our future generations to keep it exactly that way.
There is one thing the founders may be disappointed with though if they shot themselves out of their graves again: Can't light up in too many public places anymore. Smoke em if you got em. God bless America.
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