Happy 4th Of July

12:39 pm EST July 4th, 2007 | Politics | 15 Comments

231 years and still ticking…

Fourth_of_july_2006_017
This is a picture taken from the Capitol lawn on July 4, 2006 when I attended the “A Capitol Fourth” concert with my mom. One of my great pleasures has been attendance at the “big three” Fourth Of July celebrations – Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. (multiple times).

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15 Responses to “Happy 4th Of July”

  1. Philip Shropshire says:
    July 4, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    Yeah thank god for slavery or the wealth of the nation couldn’t have been created…

  2. Philip Shropshire says:
    July 4, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    Gawd. Will you look at what this “idiot” said about the fourth?

    What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

    Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms- of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

  3. Quaker in a Basement says:
    July 4, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    Shropsy, you didn’t provide a link!

  4. Philip Shropshire says:
    July 4, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    Okay, here’s the link to that idiot who hates America just like legendary civil rights activist Howard Zinn:

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/4/14713/51462

  5. Benny says:
    July 4, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    Happy birthday all. Oliver Wasn’t around for the Bicentennial celebration, but that one sticks out in my mind.

    And today is my real b-day too.

  6. Quaker in a Basement says:
    July 4, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    Thanks, Shrops. Now, as all the cool bloggers say, “Read the Whole Thing.” Freddy D had a way with words, didne?

  7. Quaker in a Basement says:
    July 4, 2007 at 5:04 pm

    The same “idiot,” continuing directly:

    …Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from “the Declaration of Independence,” the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.

    Happy 4th, ever’body!

  8. Oliver Willis says:
    July 4, 2007 at 5:28 pm

    Yes, we should never celebrate the fourth of July because blacks are still slaves and things never get better in America or anything.

    You know, sometimes you guys try the hell out of a fellow liberal’s soul sometimes with the pessimism.

  9. Quaker in a Basement says:
    July 4, 2007 at 6:54 pm

    Pessimism?!?

    Where do you see pessimism in this?

    I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.

  10. Quaker in a Basement says:
    July 4, 2007 at 7:00 pm

    Pessimism? Oh yeah, that Fredrick Douglass could be a real buzzkill, yo.

  11. Acanthus says:
    July 4, 2007 at 8:11 pm

    And this average citizen:

    http://www.charlotte.com/409/story/182919.html

  12. Jay says:
    July 5, 2007 at 8:34 am

    Well that does it for me.

    Next year I will tell the kids:

    “No fireworks this year. No sparklers, no barbecue, and no fun celebrating our country’s independence. We will observe the day in mourning and quietly be ashamed of ourselves for being proud Americans because our forefathers owned slaves. The only thing on television will be ‘Roots’ which will play all day long. At the end of the day, before we go to bed, we will add to our prayers to ask for God’s forgiveness for being such horrible people for even thinking we could enjoy and celebrate the 4th of July.”

    Amen.

  13. Acanthus says:
    July 5, 2007 at 8:45 am

    Jay, I think you should celebrate Independence Day. Just because it doesn’t apply to me, I’m not going to, as the kids say, “hate on” someone to whom it does apply.

  14. Duros62 says:
    July 5, 2007 at 5:36 pm

    Oh, have a beer and a hamburger and STFU.

  15. Terrance says:
    July 6, 2007 at 7:37 pm

    I dunno. I think the present is more the problem than history. Thinking about the shape we’re in at present makes that flag a little heavier and harder to lift.

    If I celebrated anything this July 4th, it was that at the very least our constitution ensures that the current administration will be on its way out soon. Unless Bush finds a way to stick around…

    In the meantime, we’re packing for our family vacation, and we’re taking copies of our wills, advance directives, medical powers of attorney, and our son’s adoption degree. Because, being a gay family, traveling without “papers” is inherently dangerous. Even though there’s no guarantee they’ll be recognized if we need them to be, without them we have no rights as a family that anyone has to recognize.

    In America…