Here in the inland northwest of the USA, it has been a rainy and cool spring and summer so far. Today was no exception. The Independence Day parade has been, for the first time to my recollection, beset by a rainshower! And there I was, marching along with a bag of candy for the kids, and guiding the crowds out of the way so the library district bookmobile had room to maneuver.
Our little town tends to have a huge parade, because anyone can join. Owners of antique cars, hot rods, and off-road vehicles all participate. Businesses drive their fleets of logo-emblazoned cars. Kids with bicycles, scooters, and even ponies join in. All along the short route through town, spectators line up along the road, and kids eagerly dash out for candy. These oblivious urchins were the main reason I was on foot, because the route is circuitous, and the crowds need to be reminded about the maneuvering space big vehicles require. I survived, and no one got turned into roadkill, so it was a success.
I have been keeping an eye on the forecast, so I had a hunch some extra protection would be needed. I brought a British army surplus satchel, and inside it I had stashed a water-resistant jacket. I was glad for the jacket, and also for the satchel since it was large enough for a 5-pound bag (2.25-ish kilos) of candy. I still ran out on the last block though. Half the town may have been in the parade, but the other half was watching, and the crowd grows every year.
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I am always conflicted about celebrating Independence Day, though. More and more, I see the flags and anthems as idolatrous. Politicians graandstanding at events across the country also exemplify the very faults which led to the Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776. We are taxed far more than King George ever dared, and government demands ever more control over our lives every day. Every license, tax, permit, registration form, fine, and prohibition stands as a reminder that we are not free to actually enjoy the liberty we are told we have. Just look at the complaints leveled in the Declaration itself, and measure them against the US government today.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
Today, I am more concerned about the myriad unwholesome laws imposed upon us, the corrupt courts upholding those laws, and the abusive police enforcing those laws. As an anarchist, I see no need for new laws beyond the revocation of old legislation, but there are many efforts toward overturning bad laws of the past which stagnate in committee even if they manage to progress that far because there is no glamor in doing what is right.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
The government at every level from federal to state to local has been a bloating bureaucratic mess for generations, with just enough handouts to placate the multitudes.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
We call them "police" now.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
Does "qualified immunity" ring any bells? Or the absolute mockery of human rights and justice occurring in various prisons for accused terrorists?
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
Now the legislators pretend anything they want to do is magically authorized by the Constitution thanks to weasel words.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
Again, police and qualified immunity.
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
Now, instead of the 18th century mercantilism, we have "trade deals" and embargoes. It's still a system of government administration over commerce.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
The veneer of consent used today is a sham, too.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
Yup, we're battling this today, too.
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
At least it's not overseas now, but there are so many laws that we all probably commit an average of three felonies per day if anyone were to scrutinize us enough. What happened to the basic principle that if there is no victim, there is no crime? Whose life, liberty, or property was violated? It doesn't matter when government simply decrees owning an object or engaging in a voluntary exchange they have forbidden is a "crime."
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
All governments are arbitrary, and democracy is just a facade for tyrants.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
Now they do it by administrative action.
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
The Federal government disregards its own Constitutional restrictions and the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution in almost every law they enact now while blatantly trampling other explicit prohibitions.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
Did you know the police have no duty to protect anyone? And if police have no duty to protect you, but enforce laws which violate your rights to life, liberty, property, freedom of association, etc. they are literally waging war against civil society.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
This is happening in America today, too. The Branch Davidian siege at Waco was just the most blatant example.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
No, we just spent decades sending troops to other countries to do that abroad. Totally a different thing!
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
We haven't had conscription in force since the Vietnam war, but the Selective Service registration requirement remains as a threat to enslave everyone in whatever war the government wants tomorrow.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
Agents provocateur are suspected or confirmed in most American riots, including the January 6th debacle cited as an "insurrection" by the corporate press.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
No one is fit to govern his fellow man, least so those who want such power.
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So, now that I have rained on your parade, have a happy Independence Day! Find a new freedom to exercise! Better yet, commit a deliberate, quiet, non-violent felony just to ignite the spirit of rebellion and see how short the leash really can be for those who want to be free.
Tear it all down!
Lead on!
Grabs pitchfork and torch
Tomorrow we are celebrating our Independence Day here in Venezuela. I couldn't agree more on this critique to the values upon which our declarations of independence are based. It seems vexing that these things are supposed to safeguard people and their interest and rather they enforce another type of repression. This is the rain in the parade. The needed rain.
I wonder how Bolivar himself would respond to the modern countries that descended from Gran Columbia. Would he be ready for another revolution?
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I think he would just fall into the debauchery of his lifetime. Bolivar is a controversial figure. One shrouded in myth and glory. Don't think he'd ready for any of that. Around here, the word revolution makes us sick.
The US also venerates its founders to an absurd degree, with occasional backlash portraying them as devils rather than saints. They were human, plain and simple.
True. Here the took out Paez from national history because he was a key part of La Cosiata, the separatist movement that pit and end to Gran Colombia. However, there wouldn't be a history of Venezuela as a country if Paez didn't exist. I guess it's because of all the Patriots that's the one that resembles mode the imbeciles at the top of government.
Here in the US, while people rightly condemn the Confederacy for slavery, they conveniently ignore Lincoln's statement that he would preserve slavery if it meant preserving the union, and he only promoted abolishing slavery once he needed to drum up more public support for the war. There were also a few slave states that did not secede, and prior to the war, there had been free states suggesting secession to separate themselves from the US history of slavery. But the very idea of secession has now been intertwined with slavery in the public mind so much that serious discussion is impossible. And we just celebrated the colonies seceding from Great Britain's empire a few days ago, too.
Slavery is also a convoluted topic around here. Bolivar once lost a lot of followers when he decided to free the slaves. When the whole war ended black people didn't have it easy. There's this idea of colour blindness around here. However, a lot of what we see as tolerance and jokes is founded on racists thoughts. The same is true for xenophobia. Venezuelans suffer from that a lot nowadays, but back when we didn't have a diaspora, you could see how mockery and offensive behavior was keen towards foreigners. The same people who run basically everything around here.
Is the small print from the Constitution?
Declaration of Independence.
I had a brain fart, that is what I meant to type in.
I too feel conflicted celebrating our country. The founders would not recognize and probably be shocked with what we have allowed to happen to this country. I'm just gonna stop there. I could write a book ranging from property taxes to lack of privacy...
!LUV
!BEER
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