By SJ Otto
In just a few days it will be Fourth of
July for 2018. Each year I write an article about the Fourth of July and what I
really think this holiday means. I analyse the US Revolution/Revolutionary War and
the changes it brought. From here down, I am posting what I posted last year. Not
much has changed, if anything, from last year:
That is a holiday I have mixed feelings
about. No doubt that there will be plenty of jingoistic TV shows and
commercials on TV. There will also be radio spots 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 government.
Here are some of my
fireworks for two days from now, including firecrackers, mortars and rockets.
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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