"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

— Declaration of Independence, 1776

When I was a kid, it was referred to as “the Fourth.” For me, it was fireworks and the midway point to the (all-too-quick) end of summer. As time passed, the day was known more for family, for time off, for comforting skittish canines unhappy with the sudden racket of celebratory explosions.

It’s more than that. It’s a celebration of a revolution – a term that’s fallen on hard times due to its adoption by those with tyrannical ends, and for those who forgot that the Greatest Country in the World© began “with a bang and not a whimper.”

We are wandering through a 21st Century that seems to have forgotten the costs paid by those who were here before us. There are those who decry “nationalism” who, in 1942, would have been absolutely behind the crowd of patriots.

A few things to consider while we wander into the mid-summer holiday –

The poor in this country tend to have all or nearly all of the following: a place to sleep, heating/air conditioning, a means of communication (cell phones), access to an automobile, food to eat, medical care. Not so long ago, many of our population lived in shacks, lots of them with dirt floors, with no indoor toilets and no running water.

This country consists of people whose ancestors came from every corner of the Earth; there are nearly no cultures that haven’t seen some of their populations relocated to these shores. We are an aggregate, an amalgam of all that’s out there. In one single nation, we’re the example of humanity.

Everyone heard – or should have heard – of the risks taken by those who signed the Declaration we celebrate tomorrow. A good number paid the heaviest price for freedom.

We’re not the country we were. We can’t be. The nation is a grand experiment, a test of human freedom within social constraint. It’s self-contradictory – law and order … and chaos. That internal contradiction – and our collection of diverse cultures -- are what makes us unique.

We can win wars – if certain people will leave us alone to do so – but we’re lousy conquerors in the historical sense. We’re not good at the land acquisition game since the country finished growing in the mid-20th Century.

We leave the vanquished – in the cases of Japan and Germany – better than we found them when we got there. They flourished. Now if we can just stay out of wars for a while.

We can be (and have been) the engine of industry, the pantry for the world’s hungry, the designers and engineers of devices that have taken humanity off the Earth and put machines on other planets.

At the same time, we can forget “who (and what) brung us.” Like any humans of any lineage, any ethnicity, we too often forget the lessons that others learned through sacrifice.

It’s an election year. The warring tribes are driving division. Their accomplices in various media are using fear and outrage as tools. They’re not trying to make us forget who we are; they’re trying to win something and to feather their own nests.

It’s routine and raucous, the ‘chaos’ that accompanies the move of functionaries to sew fear and discontent. “It’s the most important election in our lifetimes” has become “the most important in history.”

Like the last one, except we survived that one.

Complaints? Well, it’s the right of the enlisted to gripe and the expression of that tendency was made into high art before any of us got here.

As for the holiday, I’d counsel family time; unplug. Watch the children and grandchildren grow. Enjoy the food and festivities. Keep the family pets secure and calm during the celebration.

And be grateful. It’s not November, but it’s still a great time to give thanks.

Happy Independence Day.

— Rich Grassi