Boardman writes: "So the country is independent, and the people might celebrate that with happy satisfaction - if only the federal government hadn't slowly, steadily, and sometimes stealthily declared its independence from the people."
Ronald Reagan's Independence Day speech from 1986. (photo: WhiteHouse.gov)
04 July 13
America's Independence Day Viewed Through a Lens from 1986
n the nostalgic spirit of the Fourth of July, here are some of the things that seemed important 27 years ago, at least to the editor of The Progressive:
Names May Change to Protect the Guilty, But Corrupt Corporations Abide
Missile Protests May Have Faded, But the Nuclear Missiles Abide
Few Recognized Climate Change in 1986, But It, Too, Abides
Close to half the people alive in America today were not alive in 1986 or have no meaningful memory of the time. An equal proportion, but likely not all the same Americans, are "certain God exists," and a much greater percentage is affiliated with a religion.
So what does Independence Day mean to Americans today? The United States has been fully independent from the English crown since 1791 and there's no danger of losing that independence to any other power now or in the near future, and there almost never has been such a danger.
So the country is independent, and the people might celebrate that with happy satisfaction - if only the federal government hadn't slowly, steadily, and sometimes stealthily declared its independence from the people. Across the political spectrum, people despair of bringing the government under control again, if it ever was.
The Power Structure May Keep a Low Profile, But It Abides Most of All
Celebrating Independence Day is more than a little ironic for most Americans, especially those who perceive that the people have been colonized by their own government.
On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which ends with these words:
That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
And so on Independence Day, we celebrate the words and thoughts of this declaration that created free and independent states. More obliquely, we also celebrate the creation of free and independent white men. And we mostly take some pride in the eventual freedom and independence that others have slowly achieved more recently.
All the same, we like to celebrate the way the Declaration's second paragraph begins: "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."
Emotionally, that often seems to be the end of the celebration, especially for folks who venerate liberty and individual freedoms.
For them, the very next sentence is something of a downer, as it begins: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted …"
The American adventure was always about government, not personal freedom. It was always about changing government if we didn't like it, not getting rid of government. For awhile it was about the governments of free and independent states, but 15 years of that was enough to persuade a critical mass of the people to adopt a Constitution in 1791 designed with unintended irony to keep those states under control, while securing the rights of the people. Eventually.
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
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