By SJ Otto
So another Fourth of July will come in a few days. That is a
holiday I have mixed feelings about. No doubt that there will be plenty of
jingoistic TV shows and commercials on TV and radio promoting all the wrong
things about this holiday. It was a great revolution for its time. The United States was created out of a change, based
in part on the anti-feudalistic political movements in Europe and
anti-colonialism in the Americas .
A small group of colonies of the United Kingdom decided it was time
for their own independent country. So they kicked the British out. They got rid
of any form of feudal aristocracy. It all seemed good at the time. And let's
not forget that this revolution was strictly for the benefit of white people of
European decent. Black slaves and Native American Indians were not invited to
this new world.
But then we come to the United States in 2017. We have no
formal aristocrats, but we
have them informally. Such individuals as Charles and David
Koch, Robert Mercer and even out own president, Donald Trump, have huge incomes
and promote politics, in the Republican Party, that entitles them to the kind
of wealth and power only kings, queens and other royalty are known for having.
They have no formal titles, but they have so much power and wealth they don't
need them.
For a country that fought off colonialism we are the most
imperialistic force in the world today. We are the only country that presently
occupies two nations, Iraq
and Afghanistan .
While we originally fought a colonial power, today we ARE a major colonial
power.
If there is one thing I do like about this holiday it is the
fireworks. Along with plenty of beer, grilled meat and a chance to hang out
with my friends and relatives, who could ask for a better holiday? But there
are those who do.
There are those who really hate this holiday and for good
reasons. This is a modern capitalist country and we need a socialist movement
to push it in the direction of democracy for the masses, not just the rich
classes who now strangle us with all kinds of privileges for them and fewer rights
and resources for the rest of us. We need a foreign policy that ends our
imperialism. We need to end the occupation of Iraq
and Afghanistan .
We need an end to the War on Terrorism.
But still, I like the fireworks. I like spending time with
my friends and family. I like drinking beer. And there was this revolution at
one time and it was not such a bad event. So I will continue to celebrate the
Fourth of July, this year and any years to come.
For some background on our founding fathers and their role
in our revolution, here is last years summery:
While I am a leftist, that doesn't mean I don't like or admire some of
our founding fathers. I like to remind people that there are both good and bad
things about the US revolution.
We are talking about a revolution that concluded with the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress declaring
that the thirteen American colonies were to become an independent nation.
Of our founding
fathers, the Republicans (anti-aristocrats at that time) included both Thomas Paine and
Thomas Jefferson. They differed from George Hamilton and his Federalists who wanted
to create some new kind of aristocracy. In his later writings,
Paine condemned the
Federalists for trying to reverse the US revolution and what it
stood for.
For the rest
click here.
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