Wednesday, July 4, 2018

This Day in History


On July 4, 1776, a bunch of malcontents holed up in some hall in Philadelphia decided to...


...stick it to the Man!

As you might expect from such radicals, there was a manifesto:


You have to squint a bit to read that, huh? I'll magnify one of the screed's more subversive passages to give you an idea just how dangerous these agitators were:

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.



Happy Independence Day, and may the truths you hold remain, or someday become...



...self-evident.

9 comments:

  1. Hi, Kirk!

    Nice job here, good buddy!

    Say you want a revolution
    We better get on right away
    Well you get on your feet
    And out on the street
    Singing power to the people

    - John Lennon

    It is now the nation's turn for all to be concerned
    We can be freer still, it is the people's will
    And bring back the power for the people
    That's all we ask in our country dear
    The sick and the hungry are unable
    Protect them and those who may live in fear
    Power for the people

    - Curtis Mayfield

    Have a safe and happy holiday, good buddy Kirk!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Shady, it looks like the pop stars picked up where the Minutemen left off. Of course, the two particular pop stars you mention are no longer with us. Maybe Lady Gaga could come up with something.

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  2. Just an idle thought... What would the colonies be like today if not for that revolution? Canada?

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    Replies
    1. Mitchell, revolution or no revolution, I think the North American continent would have ended up being developed and populated by people other than Native Americans. In other words, there still would have been traffic jams, but they might have been on the left side of the road.

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  3. They did so the Phil. Eagles would one day over 200 years later would win the Super Bowl

    We did it! Go America!

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    Replies
    1. Adam, I believe the last Super Bowl was the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the New England Patriots.

      It was a counterrevolution!

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  4. Happy 4th of July!

    And just an aside to Mitchell -- Canada has always kind of seen the USA as the bad example NOT to emulate and this has had a profound effect on our history. So, for example, we broke away from Britain through patient negotation, not revolution. Again looking south, we got rid of black slavery in Canada asap. We treated our indigenous people horribly too, but didn't follow the US example of wholesale slaughter. We created a federal state and an intercontinental railway to join our provinces together to thwart American ambitions of ruling the continent by Manifest Destiny. Basically, whatever the USA does, we mull it over and then often do the opposite. Sorry, but it's true.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debra, I have to ask: did this post strike you as jingoistic? If so, that wasn't my intent. The whole thing was actually an excuse to use that bottom photo, which has been sitting in my on-line files for about a year now. The effect I was striving for was irony, but I should know by now that irony doesn't always travel well. I'm actually very concerned about the fate of my country, and have been since November of 2016. This post was my way of dealing with that concern.

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  5. Debra:
    Don't be sorry. I know it's true. My question was an "idle" thought I have all the time.

    ReplyDelete

In order to keep the hucksters, humbugs, scoundrels, psychos, morons, and last but not least, artificial intelligentsia at bay, I have decided to turn on comment moderation. On the plus side, I've gotten rid of the word verification.