A Rewrite of History

None of us are free

Author’s note: I wrote and published this originally on July 4, 2021. I decided it needed a bit of polish, so I am publishing it anew here.

So, it’s the Fourth of July again. Independence Day.

On the TV and in the newspapers, we are being reminded to get ready for the Fourth by going to Lowe’s to get a new grill, or to get those delicious King’s Hawaiian buns ready for our holiday burgers! Yum!

Can’t have a holiday without the feast, right?

So, as America prepares to celebrate another year of Independence, it got me thinking about how we got like this: I mean, how did the Day of Independence become a day of fireworks being shown on TV by the weatherman, M*A*S*H marathons on TV Land, and some guy eating a hundred hot dogs?

Is this what independence means?

I think most Americans have no real clue what July 4th really means, what we did on that day, as a nation. So, like any red-blooded American, I Googled it. Here’s what I found.

I went straight to the source of all this holiday reverie, the U.S. Constitution. No wait, that’s another holiday. Wait…we don’t actually have a holiday for the Constitution, which is the actual founding document that started the nation.

Whoops!