Land of the free and the home of the brave...

Independence Day (I refuse to say "4th of July") has become a difficult time for me in the last decade or so. To say that I'm ambivalent - or even downright cynical - is an awful understatement sometimes.

And yet, I can't help but remember history, the fine and lofty hopes and dreams of so many people - past and present. I can't help but be moved when I read the declaration, or consider the incredible sacrifice so many have made to make that declaration live... regardless of the rightness or wrongness of the outcome.

In so many ways, so much of the time, I've become terribly cynical. I've lost most hope that ordinary people can see that they've been duped and conditioned to accept - even demand - slavery for themselves and their children. I have a hard time believing that any but a hard core remnant will ever do the hard work of learning different and accepting personal responsibility for their own lives with integrity and non-aggression as their foundation.

I have little but thinly veiled contempt for many of the symbols of "America" that have been hijacked and polluted by the socialists and statists. I refuse to consider the US flag as anything but a badge of total dishonor. I have no intention of ever "pledging allegiance" to any flag or "nation" it may represent since doing so is incompatible with individual sovereignty.

And yet...

As I was driving home from a FSW picnic, I listened to a recording of John Wayne reading that long poem about why he loves America. And I began to weep.

"America" isn't the Golden Gate bridge, or the Grand Canyon, or any place on this continent, and yet they are incredibly and indelibly commingled with the spirit and honor of those who conceived of an entire continent of free men exercising individual liberty in voluntary cooperation.

How did that grand and wonderful dream fail? What could the founders and citizens of the original colonies have done differently to avoid the mess we're in now? Is that even possible at all? Must we be content to recapture that dream the best we can only in our own lives?

And thinking about all that, remembering what America has become and is becoming... the tears came again as the fireworks brightened the sky last night. I couldn't help wondering how many of those watching the bright display had any real idea what it was all about. Even in Wyoming.

Give me liberty or give me death.