Beer'n hotdog day!

Today is July 4th, the day that used to be set aside for us to celebrate America's Independence, as I wrote yesterday in the post directly beneath this one. It is sad but true that this is no longer what the holiday means to many (and judging by what I see around me, most) Americans. Perhaps this is not the case in your neck of the woods, but I happen to live in one of the most (comparatively speaking) 'conservative' states and regions in America. So I think the tendency would most likely be that as we move away from the center, this irreverant attitude towards our nation's birthday would become more pronounced.

After returning home late yesterday evening I got online and went to several sites listed in my blogroll, including VFR where this entry had been posted while I was away. In the entry Richard W. complains about the "lowering of standards" in diverse America. But you know what the B.O. supporting preacher said: "our nation's diversity (uh, I meant to say pluralism, sorry) is much more to be celebrated than to be feared" even though, according to B.O., as racial and cultural diversity increases in America, America becomes an ever more dangerous place to live. But I digress...

In his concluding remarks in his email to L.A., Richard writes that he's going to view the "fourth of July" as a day of mourning, with one consolation -- beer and hotdogs are hard to ruin, and I respond:

Richard wrote:

Ah, our America. Happy Forth of July? Hmm. I think I'm viewing it as a day or mourning.

He should be, particularly since the liberalization of America is now so complete and thorough that even patriotic folks like Richard refer to the day set aside for Americans to celebrate the great epoch of our nation's independence as "the fourth of July" without a second thought, not even to whom he's speaking to.

And L.A. replies to my response to Richard's remarks:

Isn't Mr. Morris being a little tough on Richard W.? Yes, of course, the proper name for the holiday is Independence Day; I personally often use that name when others are calling it "July Fourth." But it's been commonly called "July Fourth" for an awfully long time, probably going back well into the 19th century, and to suggest that the use of that familiar, even traditional name is a symptom of the much more recent radical liberalization of America is, I think, not correct or fair.

But, you see, this is my point. I'm keenly aware of the fact that the term "fourth of July" is not a new innovation on the proper "Independence Day" in America. Hell, until fifteen years ago or so, I myself used the term, just like Richard, without a second thought as to the implications of what I was saying. Furthermore, I did not suggest that it is a new innovation, nor was I trying to be harsh with Richard W. Indeed, I was trying to give Richard as much credit for his patriotism as I could while showing that his usage was/is improper and an indication of how deep our nation has sunk into the abyss of liberal domination (seriously, what force would my argument have in the absence of granting Richard's patriotism and love of country?; if Richard were not, in my opinion, a patriotic American, then what would be the point of my using him as an example of the extent of the problem as I see it?). But because I dared point out that Richard's usage of the improper "fourth of July" is indication of a deeper problem in America than what actually shows up on the surface, I'm declared to be unfair to Richard.

My apologies to Richard if I offended him, but frankly being fair to Richard is among the least of my worries on this day.

Y'all enjoy your beer and hotdogs.

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A quibble that's increasingly becoming a major gripe

Can we agree that the holiday we celebrate annually on July 4th in this country should be referred to as "Independence Day," not "the 4th of July"? I mean, we don't refer to Christmas as "the 25th of December," nor our own birthdays, nor our wedding day as "the 23rd of March" (randomly chosen date) or whatever. December 25th and July 4th are dates on the calendar which mark two great occasions for celebration in this country, the birth of Christ and the birth of the nation respectively. Personally I think we do a disservice to our founders and the epoch when we use the calendar date July 4th as synonymous terminology with the event which we're celebrating, or which we're supposed to be celebrating.

As John Quincy Adams, on the 61st occasion for celebrating Independence Day in this country, so ably said in a speech delivered to the citizens of Newburyport:

Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day.
Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked to the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the Progress of the Gospel dispensation?
Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth?
That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets 600 years before.

Perhaps my traditionalist friends will at least agree with me (and with Mr. Adams) on this point. Indeed, as Mr. Adams put it, our most joyous and most venerated festival, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, returns on this day, the calendar date July 4th. The festival itself is not the same as the date on which we celebrate it.

Notwithstanding that, here's a Wikipedia article on the Declaration of Independence that you might find interesting.

Addendum:

Here's the first paragraph from the Wiki entry:

The United States Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration was a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress. (emphasis added)

Happy Independence Day!

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Custer's Rout of the Indians at the Battle of Little Bighorn?

Over at John Savage's blog under this title there is a discussion in the comments section about Americans not knowing well their own genealogy. I agree with both John, and VA that this is most probably and widely the case among Americans, including myself which I'm somewhat embarrassed by as well as ashamed of.

Here's a personal story in this vein that you might find interesting, perhaps even one to which some of you can in some way relate...

When I was about six or seven years old is the farthest recollection I have of Dad making me aware of my native American heritage. This is kind of a funny story and I recall it often attaching a lot of humor to it, though I think there are some serious aspects to it as well.

At that time some of you may recall that capitalist American toy manufacturers and retailers had seized upon what I suppose must have been a good deal of interest amongst the American population in the history of Custer's last stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

My recollection of this phase of Americans becoming interested in some of their post-civil-war history is best explained I think in the fact that Mom had purchased for me an action figure of Col. Custer himself, along with his horse and other bells and whistles. My best recollection is that it wasn't long thereafter that Dad brought me a counterpart to this action figure – either “Crazy Horse,” or “Sitting Bull,” most probably. Dad of course had an ulterior motive for providing me with the toy, and one in direct opposition, not necessarily to Mom's motive (I highly doubt that Mom had one to begin with other than just providing me with something I wanted most likely), but to her specific gift which I had probably requested.

Despite the true history of the Battle of Little Bighorn, my childhood replays of the battle always had Custer's regiment triumphant over the Indians. That's the way I wanted it to be, and since they were my toys I could play it out however I wanted to, or so I thought...

I remember one day while Col. Custer and company were thoroughly routing their Indian nemeses, Dad stopped me in the midst of my fun and began to explain to me that 'that's not the way it happened at all.' He further went on to ask me why it was that I preferred the Custer doll over that of the Indian he had provided me? This question of Dad's was prompted by the fact that I generally took very good care of the Custer doll and his horse. The Indian companion piece Dad had provided me was not so fortunate as that, however. I didn't have a very good answer, and it was really kind of a confusing question for me, in retrospect.

Looking back on it now, I would assume that my mind had been impressed with these ideas through different forms of media, as well as from the warring factions between my parents on this issue. I can't explain exactly why Dad's preference in this regard did not take well with me. I always thought of my Dad as being something of a 'larger than life' figure, and virtually everything he told me I took to be absolute and unadulterated truth. But in this particular an exception to that rule was very obviously noticeable, and Dad of course picked up on it and began to try to counter it with some extensive educational efforts on his part.

After Dad had that initial talk with me I remember trying to play the battle out to more conduce to the way that he had explained to me that it actually happened. But after having done so a couple of times I reverted back to my own preference for how the battle should have gone in direct contradiction to what Dad had told me. And I was in no way in the habit of contradicting my dad, nor had I any desire to disappoint him; quite the contrary. But in this case my personal preference proved to be just too strong to overcome. Of course, I was careful from there on out to have the Indians winning whenever Dad was around. And Dad and I entered upon a game of pretended preferences for several years thereafter.

I think the point of this story, besides my attempting to provide you with a good chuckle, is that even to this very day I have a strong bias in favor of my European heritage and over that of what little Indian blood I actually have running through my veins. As a matter of putting our history back in what I would consider its proper context, I think there's a largely neglected need for individuals like myself to express their true preferences, not succumbing to the pc pressure of always esteeming the poor, hapless Indians as having been manipulated, raped, pillaged, murdered and robbed at the hands of the true savages - the 'white devil invaders.'

I tend more to view 'ownership' in the way that Locke explained it, which is to say that the earth was given to man in common, but to establish a true ownership of anything thereof, one must invest that which may be reduced to his and his alone – his labor. Personally I have a hard time accepting the idea that occupation in and of itself establishes ownership in any 'American' sense of the word. I mean, I could go set up camp on a given piece of property, but the great likelihood is that the owners thereof – those who have invested their labor in the acquisition of that property – when they find me out, are going to do whatever is necessary to have me removed, as well they should.

I need a better explanation than 'the Indians occupied this land first' to convince me that they had established ownership of it entirely to the exclusion of anyone else. I don't deny that the Indians were wronged in some respects, but nor do I unquestionably accept the apparent conventional wisdom that the white devils wronged them in all respects, and that we're now occupiers of a land ill-gained. That to me is just a bunch of emotionally based hogwash, the logical conclusion of which makes me ill to stomach, to be frank.

In any event, Dad and I still have these conversations from time to time. He's not as apt as he used to be to try to convince me against my preferences and against my better judgment, but he still sticks largely to his guns on this issue. I suppose this issue will always be a point of contention between us, given that neither of us is likely to change his mind anytime soon. But for those of you who tend to take Dad's side on this question, and particularly those of you having also an attachment to the Christian faith, I would respectfully remind you, as I have Dad on occasion, that our Lord and our God must be extremely offended by an abject denial of that heritage of ours which actually resulted in 'securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves.'

These ideas of God, man, and government are traceable back to our European roots, not to the original occupiers of this land of ours. These ideas are most probably responsible for 'securing the blessings of liberty' on an individual and a collective level to the most people and generations history has heretofore ever recorded. Our European heritage is directly responsible for the blessings we enjoy, yet so easily dismiss today as a matter of luck. And as we ride upon the backs of our forefathers and mothers, we tend at the same time to dishonor them in denying that vital part of our unique heritage.

Lord forgive us, for we know not what we do.

-DW

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July Fifth

Around my house we refer to the 'fourth of July' as "Independence Day." And we make allowances for few exceptions to the rule. I've never tried it yet, but I think I may, one of these years, make an effort to fill in the date line on a personal check on that day, "Independence Day, 200(8,9, whatever). Y'all remind me next year and I'll sure give 'er a shot. As a matter of fact, I'll make it a point next year to pay by check on that day for any purchases I make, and we'll see how many of 'em get through. If questioned about the date, I'll simply reply: "isn't that the way you spell july fourth?" lol

Independence Day is one of the few days in the year that I absolutely refuse to work on. Others are Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. My personal opinion is that what with all the holidays listed on the calendar, weekends, birthdays, anniversaries, and what have yous, there are an abundance of reasons and days to take off work, few of which rise to the level of holy day status. For myself and my family, the three days I've listed above pretty well cover it. And btw, neither do we refer to Christmas Day as December twenty fifth. Hey!, there's another idea for making transactions on that day (only those that are necessary, of course). The date line might read: "CHRIST-mas day, 2007; or I just might throw an "anno domini" in there somewhere, who knows.

Anyway, here we find ourselves on July fifth; the day after Independence Day. Nothing really significant about this day except, as I said, it's the day after a significant American holiday. And of course there's a lot of cleanup to be done and whatnot. But more importantly it's a good day for reflection...

We had a fair Independence Day this year. And there's a reason I say "fair" the details of which I won't share with you here. Suffice it to say that something unexpected happened that pretty well threw all our planned events somewhat out of whack. Nonetheless, we had a lot of fireworks (and I do mean a lot) and we managed to get them all fired off. My eldest son and I took the opportunity from work to build a nice picnic table for the family as well. There was plenty of food and all that too.

Another thing we did this year, different than years preceding, was to make colonial style hats for the two younger boys. And since they have dvds of "Johnny Tremain," and the "Daniel Boone" series, they thought those were about the coolest things they'd ever been given, and they wore them with pride. I remember one year that my wife helped the girls make themselves Pilgrim style dresses for Thanksgiving. They came complete with bonnets and aprons, and the whole nine yards, no pun intended.

On the hats for the boys, and if you care to do it for your own sometime, they're very easy to make, and inexpensive too. Just buy them a five-dollar 'felt' cowboy hat at Wal-mart or wherever. In my neck of the woods Wal-mart keeps them in stock in youth sizes. Other than that, all you have to have is something with which to pin the rim up on the sides and at the back. That's all there is to it. My wife used a needle and thread with ours. All I did was show her (precisely) where to sew. On the dresses for the girls, well, you'd have to discuss that with my wife.

But like I said, all-in-all we had a nice Independence Day celebration this year. The children certainly enjoyed it thoroughly. They had a lot of fun setting things up, decorating the yard with balloons and flags and other patriotic novelties. And of course, as I said, the fireworks were plenty and of very good quality this year. And I expect that the boys will henceforth want their hats as part of their way of celebrating future Independence Days. In fact, I think I'll make me one next year.

I hope all of you had a nice Independence Day celebration as well. And may we all improve upon our celebrations in the years to come.

-DW

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Star Spangled Banner

Just a short note to encourage you, if you happen to stop by, to turn your volume up and listen to my very favorite rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

I first ran across it several years ago while shopping for patriotic cassette tapes at Hasting's, or somewhere like that. Of course I now have the CD version of the collection entitled: "Stars and Stripes Forever, Volume II."

Many thanks again to our CTO for putting it up, along with the waving banner. And also for the work done to the AFB button. Very nice!

Hopefully the music'll help to get you in the right mood for the day's activities. And if you've never heard this rendition before, wait for the introduction of the Piano....very uplifting, very encouraging, very....American!

Perhaps we'll put up other patriotic music that perhaps some of you have never had the pleasure of hearing. I can think of a couple of songs from a Boston Pops album -America The Beautiful- offhand that probably exist in relative obscurity. And of course the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is famed for its many albums containing patriotic music.

Enjoy!

-DW

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Dearest Abigail,...

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever...

Most, if not all of you are probably familiar with the quote above, and recognize it as an excerpt from a letter written by John Adams to his wife Abigail, after having sat through the reading of the Declaration of Independence with his brethren in the Continental Congress. The letter goes on to reflect that while his words might cast an appearance of being overly exuberant on the memorable occasion, that indeed he was well aware of the sacrifices that must follow in support of the Declaration.

In the many years since I first learned of the significance of the second day of July to this nation's founding, it has been my tradition on that day to reflect upon the prophetic words of John Adams. I like to take myself back to that day and imagine that I'm seated in Independence Hall listening intently as the Declaration of Independence is read to the members of Congress. As I look around the room observing the solemnity of the occasion evident on the somber yet determined faces of the body history establishes in such a favorable light, I myself am moved with a range of emotions perhaps not too remotely different than those which must have enveloped John Adams as he expressed them in his letter to Abigail.

Of course, our time-honored tradition as a nation is indeed to celebrate the nation's birthday in ways very close to those which Mr. Adams expressed to Abigail as he envisioned them. And though there are many who dishonor the occasion with drunkenness, irreverance, and through general displays of lasciviousness, there are yet a great many of us, I must believe, who take care on the occasion to honor the memory, the work, and the great sacrifice of our glorious forefathers. And I should hope that each of us may count ourselves among the latter group, non-participants by choice in irreverant displays of a feigned patriotism, for some more properly denominated as just another day to engage in personal activities more properly associated with the idea of license, than of liberty.

On this memorable day, July 2nd, 2007, I am thankful that Adam's letter to Abigail was preserved for my own discovery some years later. For since that day of discovery, it has served as a reminder to bridle my activities in the coming days in such a way that cannot be construed, particularly for my children, to dishonor the memories and the sacrifices of our founding generation.

-DW

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