It’s come and gone once again. A national celebration, acts of violence, and perhaps not quite the unity that some holidays have had in recent memory.
The shooting in Highland Park, Ohio, was something that strikes us all. Innocent parade-goers gunned down for no apparent reason. The young man with yet another assault weapon refusing to give a reason. His father denying his own culpability, even though he facilitated the purchase of that gun. Why do ordinary citizens even need assault weapons? Maybe we should repeal the second amendment, and write something that clearly articulates the boundaries of responsible gun ownership. Best to start from scratch. Definitely something to ponder.
Here was an interesting item in the news last week, written by the sports editor of our local paper. He was out running last week, and noticed several people putting flags on mailboxes. A lovely, patriotic gesture. He asked on his return if he could have one, to which they agreed, and he carried it home with him. Several drivers honked to indicate their support. Based on that, he decided to carry it with him on his run two days later, several days before the 4th. He was dismayed, as he wrote, that only one person tooted their horn at him as he jogged waving the flag. What is the matter with people? I understand his frustration. However, what does the Stars and Stripes mean today, at this point in time? In the 2020 election season, I saw (repeatedly) a large vehicle, almost of the stature of a “monster” truck, driving around town with two large, and I mean large flags fluttering from the back. One was the United States flag, and the other was a campaign flag with the legend, “Trump 2020 – Stop the Bull@#$@”. OK A political statement. Freedom of speech. But still, we’ve all seen protesters – from generic white supremacists to the Proud Boys and others, all wrapping themselves in the flag and telling us they are the true patriots. I saw an image on the t-shirt over the weekend that really made me think twice – it was Donald Trump’s head superimposed on a superhero body, again on a background of the flag. A local variety store has swapped out its MAGA baseball caps for those sporting the legend, “Let’s Go Brandon”, while outside, its parking lot is surrounded by American flags. Acknowledging the flag isn’t always what it seems, because we don’t know who is wearing, carrying, or using it.
Protests have erupted across the country leading up to the Fourth, in response to the Supreme Court’s most recent decisions. And yes, the Supreme Court itself has taken a decidedly more political turn, as we knew it would, even if Susan Collins didn’t see it coming. Personal choice and freedom have taken a back seat to gun rights and public tax dollars for religious schools, and those issues can be divisive and sometimes counter-intuitive.
The first 4th was hardly a time of unity and rallying together. The country was torn emotionally and physically between separatists and loyalists. Many folks set sail for Britain because they considered that separation from England was unthinkable, including Benjamin Franklin’s own son. Less than a hundred years later, the country was again divided as Southern states declared it their right, yes even their obligation, to secede and form a new nation to protect a way of life that, in hindsight, we know meant human inequality and was on the wrong side of history. Are we now at that stage once again, where equity and equality are at stake and still need to be explained and defended? A political commentator mentioned recently that the end of the Civil War was perhaps much more an “Independence Day” than it was on July 4th, 1776, which only freed white male land-owners.
We’ve just spent four years of fear, with a steady barrage of misinformation from the White House and Fox News. We were told that we needed to build walls around our country and deny entry to anyone that didn’t look like white folks. Far-right radicals have been talking about “taking back” our country, although ironically a healthy percentage of our ancestors, those without pale skin, were brought here in chains and Native American were driven off most of the continental US. Even Hawaii became part of the US through an unfriendly takeover and their Queen imprisoned. If Spanish is your first language, well then, in the perspective of Donald Trump, you’re a drug dealer, murderer, and “bad hombre”. His words.
Perceptions tend to become reality, at least the way many see things. I heard an economist this morning on television talking obviously about the economy. Interestingly, he mentioned that this is the strongest work force we’ve had in close to sixty years. Unemployment is at record lows, inflation is high but coming down, as are prices. Trade is picking up, production is up, shipping costs are coming down, even the cost of gasoline. Yet President Biden’s approval ratings aren’t improving, nor have people stopped blaming him for everything, including smaller portions of potato chips per bag – yes, I heard a Trump disciple, if his baseball cap was an indicator, in the grocery store just this past week blaming him for that too.
In the words of President Andrew Shepherd in the movie, An American President, “democracy isn’t easy.” No, it certainly isn’t. It requires some listening and gathering of accurate information. It requires the ability to discern the right from the wrong. It requires a global, comprehensive view of our country and its needs, not just what benefits us personally at the moment. The question, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” is seriously flawed, because society, history, and the long term don’t work that way. They have their ups and downs. Some in office benefit from that, while others don’t. If prosperity and personal happiness were the measure of presidential success, then William McKinley, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower were some of our greatest presidents, while George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt weren’t.
So, the question facing Americans as we move forward into 2022 and beyond, isn’t “Am I better off?” It is acceptance of a statement from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of my favorite quotes that adorns the FDR memorial in Washington, with a relief of people standing in a bread line. “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Following this path will give us the “independence” that our forefathers sought, and that the world expects of us.
I'm Thinking...No! 