In Defense of the 4th of July and the Declaration of Independence

It is still relevant, powerful, and revolutionary

Ever since social media on the internet became available, every 4th of July I see post after post declaring there is nothing to celebrate since America was “founded on genocide and slavery.”

Such declarations may have been educational or edgy at one time; now, I just find them trite, divisive, unnecessary, and accomplishing nothing more positive than giving the writer a brief endorphin release of moral superiority or maybe just Take that, you ignorant redneck. Ha!

IOW, such declarations are every bit as useless, albeit far less expensive, than fireworks or flyovers by military jets, and exactly as useless as statements that America is the Greatest Country Ever or God’s Chosen Nation or other chest-thumping puff & fluff.

The American Declaration of Independence was a product of its time, and at that time it really was a progressive, revolutionary and inspirational thing which no one saw coming just a couple of years before, and it is still relevant today.

The revolutionary thing was the idea about the governed having both the right and the duty to overthrow a government which no longer worked for them, and to establish one over which the citizens, not the aristocracy or overseas oligarchs, had ultimate control.

In 1776, what form that new government would take was nebulous at best. No one had thought of the Constitution yet; now was the time to force the British Empire out and to worry about exactly how the colonies would govern themselves later.

This idea that individual adult male citizens have inherent rights with which they are born, not gifted or bestowed by some so-called superior, provided the spark that led to such things as anarchism and socialism as well as an expanding early capitalist nation.

Marx and Engels knew this and recognized it a little less than a century later. Those groups initially excluded from all those inherent rights were eventually included, at least under the eyes of the law, after literal centuries of struggle.

Struggle, I might add, that used the principles of the Declaration of Independence to justify itself, because they did. Black and Native Americans saw that message of hope, opportunity, and equality before the law almost immediately, and as society changed so did women.

John Brown applied those principles, and launched a sequence of events that led to the 14th Amendment and the extension of the Declaration’s inherent individual rights to all persons within the United States, which would eventually include women and Native Americans.

Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers all used a slaveowner’s language as the language of their own people’s liberation because it still worked. It still does.

Now, we have a Mad Wannabe Emperor on the throne we allowed capitalist oligarchs to buy, declaring that his wishes and orders manufacture our reality while those with certifiably insane amounts of wealth extract ever more from us to use to prosecute their wars for profit and to protect their power and status from the righteous wrath of We The People.

The Declaration of Independence is every bit as relevant now as it was 249 years ago. Its clarion call for justice still rings true and calls us to action to defend both ourselves and our children from exploitation and servitude, so that they can lead their lives without a “by your leave” from a lord, master, or employer.

I see no need to use the 4th of July to moan and groan about what an awful country the United States is, or to pretend that it is some god-granted utopia when it clearly is not.

I do see the need for a lot more people to read the Declaration of Independence, and to use the best of it to make this world a better place. The beauty of it is that you don’t even have to be an American to find something in there which can inspire you to do something positive, or even revolutionary.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying time with family, grilling a few burgers over a charcoal or gas fire, and marveling at pretty fireworks.

So have a happy Fourth of July if you so choose. Now, it’s time for me to make some breakfast and clear off a table for a family board game later. I’ll close with an example of how to apply those revolutionary principles in the American Declaration of Independence.

Just imagine either Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Paine or Ben Franklin seeing what is happening in Palestine today. They would point to their Declaration, and say,

Israel delenda est.

Thank you for reading, good day or night, and good luck.

If you appreciate my scribbling, please share this post and consider making a one-time donation by buying me a beer or becoming a paid subscriber at the lowest rates available on Substack.