Some Thoughts on Independence Day

[Billy Britt]

Each year we celebrate the 4th of July as the United States Independence Day. It is the Federal holiday commemorating our independence from Great Britain.Today, it would be difficult to imagine the courage and conviction of the supporters of this resolution.The declaration was a logical and intellectual refutation of the long-held belief that one man's right to rule over other men was divinely conferred. This was an affront to centuries of dictatorial rule and the opening for a government based on individual liberty and lawful representation. All the signers of the declaration were men of means, education and position, so, this was not an uprising of radicals but a planned revolution by the ruling elite. Yet, their purpose and plan for government was to give power to individuals via natural rights, rather than the divine rights of kings.The Founding Fathers risked, their lives and liberty rather than bow to Gilgamesh.By attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence, these men in effect, were signing their potential death warrants.The last line of our Declaration reads, "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."When the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, fortune and sacred honor it was not just a symbolic gesture, it was literal.After the signing, Benjamin Franklin famously said, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."In her book Affairs of Honor, author Joanne B. Freeman explains that "honor" was used interchangeably with "reputation" but it meant "reputation with a moral dimension and an "elite cast." It was, also understood as, "the core of a man's identity, his sense of self, and his manhood."Sadly, there seems to be no equivalent words for "sacred honor," in use among today's politicians.Rather than relying on a code of "sacred honor," most of today's politicians' employ a more Machiavellian approach to governing. A stratagem that might be summed up by the"whatever it takes" refrain of the street.This, of course, leaves little but the rotting corpses of individual liberty and lawful representation.Lord Acton's April 1877 dictum that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is seen daily in the halls of power and the headlines of the news.Lord Acton had a great interest in the United States and considered our Federal structure the perfect guarantor of individual liberties.A close observer of the American Civil War, his sympathies lay entirely with the Confederacy. He felt that the South was justified in their defense of States' Rights against a centralized government. Acton believed that all historical precedent pointed to a centralized government that would inevitably turn tyrannical.Not to put too fine a point on Acton's thoughts, it would seem that in today's political realm the only power readily available to the average citizen is to be found on the city or county level. In local politics one can attend meetings, talk with representatives and be face-to-face with those who make the decisions. This, however, takes a commitment on the part of the individual. But is this not a small price to pay to insure at least some of our liberties? Citizens must be informed and involved or else be content to be ruled like a dumb beast driven and contained by the whip and gate. Surely, we all have a few hours a month to insure that this independence, so dearly purchased, is not squandered by ignorance and complacency.Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."Your thoughts?

[John Richeson]

I have heard a lot about Blackberry's. Never used one. Only important people seem to have those. (kidding). I get enough email at my offices. But I have learned to text now. I kinda get it but not really.

I have heard a lot of doom and gloom stories too Davis. More than ever. You'd think Obama was the Anti christ or something. I still believe our country is great and has great potential. I am an optimist. Glass is half full. Always been that way no matter who the president is. I gave up long ago trying to control and worry about things beyone my control. I am not even sure I understand what a $Trillion dollars is. Much less what to make of it.

Biggest problem I see in my limited experience is that Americans suck at saving and seem to love debt. Now that the "rainy day" is here (regardless of the cause) many have found themselves without a sufficient plan. But it is never too late to start. And no, it is not easy for me to say. I have never had privileges....ever. Extremely humble beginnings and hard ass work are all I remember.

Blackberry me sometime this week.

[Kevin Nye]

Hey Davis,

I read 1776 by McCullough, and am just now starting to read "John Adams" by the same guy. Excellent reading they are.

[Davis Crowell]

Blackberry...you knucklebutt! Plus all the cell towers and the coverage we "up north" are afforded by all these here cell towers. The landscape here is dotted with those things.

Do you think Samuel or John Adams or any of those guys knew what their heroic deeds would bring to the 21st century! I use Verizon and the "Can you hear me now Guy" from the Verizon commerical ain't pullin' our legs.

Hey! I'm reading "1776" that book by David McCullough...good stuff! Also picked up a book, haven't read it yet about Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow... another talented guy. Huh!

Yup! I've got alot of conservative guy and gal pals, who have a tendency to "doom and gloom" me alot...you know?...not happy with all the going's on lately. I do my best to listen and to assure them as long as my pals Billy Britt, John Richeson, Joe Kriston and you others here draw breath, you won't allow this country to "go down the tubes".

Gotta go to work...enjoy this most beautiful day!

[John Richeson]

Thank you Sam Adams for founding my fav beer. A true patriot. Corona drinkers should be shot for Treason in spite of the fun commercials.
Davis, how you get Internet out on a pontoon? You geek.

[Billy Britt]

Kevin Nye would be the go to on Corona and the founding of the USA? I am sure there was beer involved but on what level rose the participation of our Latino brothers I am unclear. I defer to Mr. Nye

[Davis Crowell]

Plus a beer was named after him!

I'm aboard a pontoon boat in northern IL. Beautiful day, drinkin' a Corona. Was Corona involved in the founding of this great nation of ours?

[dick michaud]

Wasn't that John Adams that went to France and not Sam?

[Michael Prahm]

That has a nice ring of sentimentallity to it, but the truth about Sam Adam's is that while in France, he acquired the things, that a gentlemen of the day has. When returning to America, he ordered, that supplies Washington needed for Valley Forge, to be left behind, so that he would have things a gentlemen needed-Mike Prahm

[Gary Cendroski]

An interesting fact of history is that the Fahter of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams, was not a wealthy aristicrat, but a failure at business though an American patriot. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress and sent there with clothes and a coach and horses paid for (donated to him) by his patriot constituancy. Nice to know another patriot. - Gary Cendroski

[Kevin Nye]

No doubt, Ken and Sue Brown, there is No One who would make such a Pledge. I mean, what about their jobs and their "war chests" of hundreds of thousands of dollars? What about their Federal health care? Naww....Ain't gonna be any Pledges like that...

Geez. Silly me. And I thought that they were supposed to be working for me, "John Q. Citizen....."