• Robert Taylor
  • 05
  • Jul
  • 09

After a weekend filled with the sound of fireworks that made my neighborhood sound like a small war zone, there was finally some peace and quiet to reflect on what “Independence Day” was originally a celebration of: the American colonists’ secession from the British Empire. Now it has morphed into an ugly and nauseating worship of the State and its wars; the militarization of the 4th of July.

As Marines dragged 50-100 pound backpacks through the 100-degree Afghanistan sun this Saturday, Americans were constantly showered with slogans, patriotic chest-thumping, and images and celebrations of Presidents who left the Atlantic in ashes, interned 100,000 Japanese-Americans, burned Southern cities to the ground, wiped out Serbs from 20,000 feet, and other lovely things Presidents do “to protect our freedom.” The 4th of July is the U.S. war machine’s favorite holiday since it gets to witness millions of Americans wave government flags, parade down the street, and sing war-worshipping songs in church, for “freedom” of course. If you ask me, no German, Japanese, Vietnamese, Iraqi, Afghan, Panamanian, Libyan, Somalian, Cuban, or Iranian ever took away any of my rights, while the U.S. government continuously strips us of our constitutional liberties every time it threatens or bombs a foreign “enemy.”

Independence Day is now just another holiday for the Pentagram Pentagon to remind Americans of the glories of war, of America’s fights against “tyranny,” “terrorism” or “commies,” and how grateful we should be for it. The 4th of July is the worst of the military-worship holidays, but one can take a look at a calendar and find nearly one holiday a month celebrating the warfare state. Independence Day, Memorial Day in May, Veterans Day in November, Labor Day in September, and Presidents Day in January, where we all hear some one tell us to “remember the soldiers who died so you could be free.” Even Thanksgiving is used to glorify the American Empire, where we again thank the soldiers and put nice little ribbons on the back of our cars.

American soldiers are the casualties of this constant celebration of the death and destruction of war, as they are sent to places halfway across the world and told to wage war on weak, defenseless, and starving countries. The generals get promoted, the defense contractors line their wallets as well as the wallets of too many Congressmen, and the soldiers come home dead, maimed, suicidal and neglected. Then, because of these wars, Presidents say that they can ignore the Constitution and the Bill Rights; “for our freedom” of course.

Independence day has lost nearly all of its original meaning to the corrupting spell of the glorification of the State and its wars of aggression overseas. When I see government flags draping government parking meters on government streets and those annoying “patriotic” stickers, I wonder what George Washington or Thomas Jefferson would have done. I think they would’ve gladly put on Redcoats and suppressed the rebellion so that they didn’t have to see an America that shook off the chains of an empire use those same bloody chains on the rest of the globe.

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  • Robert,

    I very much enjoyed your essay.

    Elsewhere on the web we wouldn't get too far into the comments before we would read something like:

    "You can thank those serving in the military for giving you the right to sit at your computer and write this stuff."

    We do not live under a Totalitarian Regime where Individual Liberty must somehow be enabled by uniformed agents of the government.

    We are not mindless drones- dependent on people in military uniforms in order to think, write and speak.

    Not just on Independence Day, but in a general sense since 911- our culture seems to glorify and- at the same time- misunderstand the role of the US Armed Forces.

    Saying "The Troops are fighting to protect our Rights and Freedoms" takes a step towards trying to validate US foreign policy. This concept works well for politicians- like a marketing strategy.

    Most people don't serve in the military and don't want to. If there is any guilt about supporting the war, but not shipping out- it feels good to say good things about the troops.

    Some military families and veterans seem to enjoy the idea that the troops are fighting for our freedom. This makes sense in terms of a way to look at family service or past service in the military.

    If we take off our thinking caps, we might forget that physical security and freedom are not the same thing- and that the US Armed Forces protect our physical security in some cases- and in some cases they do not.

    If I want to go down to the bar with my 20 year old girlfriend (a responsible adult) to order up a few beers and celebrate freedom on Independence Day 2009, should I contact The Joint Chiefs of Staff for authorization?

    “Land of The Free”-

    Where people who actually want to take delivery on all this freedom may be seen as some sort of political enemy as we divide ourselves up into groups and assign a separate value to each group.

    People who really believe in freedom, believe in freedom beyond their own personal choices, they believe in freedom in a general sense.

    Our major political parties take turns in power, but a pro war/anti freedom agenda still seems to remain in place- partly because Americans have a fraudulent understanding of why we send “The Troops” and the flag to distant lands.

    The Armed Forces operate as enforcers of US foreign policy. Foreign Policy goals & objectives may, or may not have anything to do with the individual rights and freedoms of American citizens.

    I served in the US Marine Corps from '79-'99.

    In recent years I have started to question some of the traditions and appearances I was raised on.

    Having an honest understanding of why we send the troops to far away places would be one step towards freedom.

    Alex
    Port Hadlock, WA
  • Thanks for the comment Alex, and you were right on in all of your observations about post 9-11 America and the rise of a dangerous nationalism, where the state is viewed as a benevolent protector defending our interests as opposed to the looting, pillaging, and murdering monster that it is.
    "If I want to go down to the bar with my 20 year old girlfriend (a responsible adult) to order up a few beers and celebrate freedom on Independence Day 2009, should I contact The Joint Chiefs of Staff for authorization?"
    This is so true, and it is a false concept of "freedom" that is praised. We have the illusion of freedom, but nearly every aspect of our lives is controlled, taxed, licensed, and monitored. With every war, the US has become less and less free, and less and less safe.

    Semper Fi.
  • HalaFurst, you are right, there are plenty of towns and people who don't succumb to to the glorification of foreign wars, and I didn't mean to slander every American. My goal was to highlight the war worshipping that comes from the District of Corruption, the Pentagon, and the establishment media and that some people fall for this misguided patriotic chest-thumping. The great Samuel Johnson once said that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," and our government has a habit of wrapping atrocities in the flag.
    I really liked your point about "sacrifices due to long, cold winters, harsh seas, isolation, and the uncertain future of an unpracticed nomad," which I think a lot of people forget about. There have been countless sacrifices made for the benefit of cities, communities, families and kin, and these sacrifices are all absolutely necessary in a free society. It is the overemphasis on the utter evil that all war is that annoys me about this holiday.
  • B Random
    What do you propose be done about it? Cause I'll tell ya, telling the folks on the street to stop being warmongers ain't going to work.
  • Hala Furst
    I'm not sure from where you watched the Fourth of July festivities, but there wasn't a lot of warmongering happening in Bristol.

    There are plenty of places in this country where the Fourth is met with at least a few moments of quiet reflection, at least a little discussion of how far we may have fallen from the ideals that your assign to Jefferson and Washington. To characterize the whole country as one consumed by a holiday-induced frenzy of bloodlust is unfair.

    In Bristol, citizens took the parade as an opportunity to address their elected officials, hanging signs about the war, about the state's unemployment numbers, even the condition of the road upon which they were to walk, in the hope that their senators, congressmen, governor, and city council members would feel a civic call to duty. Yankees can't invite you anywhere without telling you how you've been screwing up.

    To some of us, to many of us, the Fourth of July is sacred like Christmas, not because we blindly worship at the altar of our military-industrial state, but because the things the holiday stands for are still worthwhile, even if the institution itself is corrupt. The men and women of this town celebrate the Fourth of July as a memorial, a remembrance of the sacrifices it took to carve out this little harbor town- not just military sacrifices, but sacrifices due to long, cold winters, harsh seas, isolation, and the uncertain future of an unpracticed nomad.

    Perhaps you were just referring to the events in DC for the holiday, or the government's pronouncements about it, but in cities and towns all over the US on Saturday you would have found individuals celebrating in a very different atmosphere. You would think that in the self-proclaimed "Most Patriotic Town in America" the sentiment would be "America, fuck yeah!", but it was far, far from it. These colonials know better, given the benefit of the long view.
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