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“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela 

The 4th of July, or Independence Day, holiday is supposed to celebrate the adoption or the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and the founding of our country. 

It is supposed to honor the founding ideals of our democracy as expressed in the Declaration and the Constitution. These statements can get forgotten in all the holiday hoopla. Here are the relevant quotes. 

“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.” Declaration of Independence.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Preamble of the Constitution 

While participating in Superior’s parade, I observed little remembrance, or celebration, of these ideals. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but I think our patriotic celebrations should inspire us to not only remember but to live our democratic ideals. As Nelson Mandela suggested  to “live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

I understand that people prefer happy, feel-good activities to patriotic speeches. But I also think our holidays can be festive without perpetuating the false narratives and myths that promote an arrogant nationalistic pride. This pride has led us to harmful mistakes in the past.

Case in point is the militarism embedded in all our patriotic holidays. The Superior parade had a fly over by two F-16 fighter planes This very expensive, two minute feel-good, had nothing to do with the purpose of the holiday. But it illustrates our acceptance of the most destructive of our national myths; the false belief that the military has secured and protected our freedom and American way of life. 

“Got freedom, thank a vet” is a catchy sound bite, but it is not true.

Which war brought women the right to vote? 

What military campaign ended Jim Crow and secured equal rights for our Black citizens? 

Which invasion of a foreign country resulted in “a more  perfect Union” or “established justice” or promoted the general welfare” here at home?

Historically the hard work of making our society more free and just has been done by social and political activists – not soldiers and wars. It was liberal activists who created, expanded and defended our civil, economic and political rights. They gave these rights practical application to  voting, employment, housing, equal treatment under the law, public accommodations and freedom from discrimination. 

These battles were fought in the courts, legislatures and streets – not on foreign battlefields. 

There were many domestic battlefields, however, where the military was used to suppress citizens using their liberties to advocate for a better country. Today the military is being used not to secure our liberty but to suppress the public protests of the authoritarian policies of the current administration. 

Got freedom? Thank an activist.

Even the American Revolution did not enhance our freedom. The war was fought to establish our independence from England, but did not establish individual rights. It wasn’t until eight years after the war ended that the Bill of Rights was enacted, establishing our civil liberties. 

These first 10 amendments to the Constitution were enacted in 1791. A statement of rights was demanded by political activists in order to get the new 1787 Constitution ratified. This timeline shows that even our most sacred of wars was not about freedom or democracy. 

I also noticed many of the parade units were commercial. Not counting the municipal and military units, half of the participants were businesses. Despite flying the flag, the obvious purpose of these floats was advertising. I guess the business of America is business. Making money has always  been the primary goal of our country.

This commercialism is consistent with our founding history, even if it doesn’t do much to honor our founding ideals. A Google AI summary of early colonial history says, “All 13 of the British colonies in America were initially founded with the intention of generating profit for their sponsors, whether they were individuals, joint-stock companies or the British crown.”

In school we were taught that people came to America seeking religious freedom. Religious freedom did motivate a few groups in four of the colonies. But it didn’t it take long for the freedom-seeking religious dissenters to start denying religious liberty to other people. Nor did it take long for those Pilgrims and Puritans to find a religious justification for making money. 

Foreshadowing today’s “prosperity gospel” advocates, getting rich was a sign of one’s piety and a reward from God.

We should remember that in 1776 the 13 colonies had 2.4 million people and 500,000 of them were slaves. Slavery was legal in all 13 colonies. 

Native Americans had been dispossessed from much of their lands and their populations severely reduced by war and disease. 

In 1776 an estimated 150,000 colonists were indentured servants. It is estimated that between one-half and two-thirds of all European immigrants came to America as indentured servants, people too poor to pay their passage (redemptioners) or transported convicts. Many of these poor people were willing to sell themselves into a type of slavery in the hope of improving their lives in the colonies. 

In comparison to life in the “old country” America was seen as a land of opportunity.

This is why it is so heartbreaking that today all the opportunity, freedom, and social progress of the last 250 yeas is being dismantled by the current administration.

Democracy is not for spectators. I wonder what the thousands of people at the parade will do after all the hoopla is over. Will they be active, informed citizens? Will they join the effort to appose the current authoritarian regime? 

Apropos to today Frederick Douglas (1818- 1895) wrote, “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them...The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”