Picnics, parades, professional sports, and fireworks; patriotic movies, a three-day weekend and gimmicky sales promotions. We have the usual news segments on American soldiers serving abroad, away from their families, being served hamburgers, hot dogs, and other traditional food and beverages (well, not alcoholic beverages in Islamic countries).
My thoughts today reflect not just on the incredible sacrifices and long odds our forefathers faced in their unlikely struggle to attain independence. We know the high price exacted to combat tyranny, including today's struggles of the Green Revoluntaries in Iran and the Honduran government's outster of former President Zelaya after he abused his power by attempting to hold an illegal referendum in order to remain in power, contrary to the Honduran constitution and ignoring the nation's Supreme Court.
But we also face a different struggle in today's America: a struggle to remain independent. Somehow we have elected a President whom asserts that Big Government is the answer, not the question, whom sees government intervention, ownership and competition as solutions, not as problems, and whom punishes success and rewards lack of initiative. Regulations are seen as end to themselves, not as barriers to competition, economic efficiency and innovation. The uniquely American ideal of the self-made man from humble origins, the Horatio Alger myth, is dismissed as unrealistic.
I find troubling a leader whom feels it necessary to point out American errors of the past, instead of her remarkable achievements and ideals. Let us not emulate the failed policies of a government-heavy economy elsewhere in the world. We need to cultivate the individualism at the core of the Declaration of Independence and our Bill of Rights.
