Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Forgotten Meaning of Independence Day (Marcel Votlucka)

Marcel Votlucka understands that the true meaning of the July 4th is the assertion of our unalienable rights, including the right to secession:

A recent poll on this site asked if respondents planned to observe (U.S.) Independence Day this year. My belated response is a “yes,” I did observe Independence Day as I always do ­– and not just because I like having a day off from work. I did so because I know what the holiday really means.

Yes, Jefferson was a slaveholder, Adams and Hamilton were for mercantilists who would make the G8 and the IMF proud, and the newly established Congress was more concerned about protecting the interests of the new American privileged classes vis a vis the old Tories loyal to the British Crown. Yes, Washington put down the Whiskey Rebellion with the same gusto he used in his own rebellion against the redcoats, oblivious to the irony. Yes, women and Blacks and Native Americans and the masses who did not own landed property were hardly represented in this new “government of the people” no matter how much the “Founding Fathers” talked about liberty. But I still observe Independence Day because I know what it really means.

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