Thoughts on the 4th of July

Two hundred and forty nine years ago, A group of young rich white men had had enough. They were tired of a king from the other side of the ocean milking their land and buying their wares at unfair prices. The British government, under King George (later known as the Mad King) was imposing tax laws upon the American colonies with little to no input from the residents of the new land. 

And, as Howard Zinn tells us in his door stop masterpiece "A People's History of the United States", these same young rich white men were also upset that OTHER rich white men were getting better kickbacks from the British Government than they were. And the only way to upend these deals... was through Revolution. 

So, on July 4th, 1776, a decree was issued. From the second paragraph: 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..."

Of course, the newly anointed founders never meant this literally. Because if they truly meant "all men," it would include indigenous peoples, slaves (whose buying and selling had become a major industry over the previous hundred years), and women of all ages. 

Fast forward to today, July 4th, 2025. Just yesterday, congress approved a budget bill that could strip millions of families on the lower end of the income spectrum of their insurance, all while writing essentially a blank check to ICE, so that they can round up as many brown people as move them to detention facilities. 

Our citizens were promised better. Even when we were just a glimmer of a nation, we were promised equality and the unalienable right to try to establish life for ourselves and our family. 

On this national holiday, we demand more. More from our elected officials more from our neighbors, more from ourselves. It doesn't matter that the founders never intended to keep their promises to the American people. They're long gone. What matters is holding us all to the higher standard we all were promised.