Disclaimers as a post

1. I am an committed liberal with a few conservative tendencies (mostly financial).

2. The fourth of July and I are over. We have, at the moment, had a falling out that is entirely unrelated to the above -- it has to do with the sharing my birthday with the damn country, meaning that not only was **I** never the star of the day, but that I had a built in theme EVERY DAMN YEAR. These days, I like to wear green or purple on The Day. Because my mother no longer dresses me.

3. I used to live in Georgia and visit Stone Mountain for the laser light show at least every other year. The people who cheer along loudest with this song (which is good, I will admit, even if not one of my favorites) are the ones still wishing that their side won a war that was fought almost 150 years ago -- and if they had won said War of Northern Agression, THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE PART OF THE COUNTRY THEY ARE CRYING ABOUT. And most of them drove up in truck with flags of the freaking confederacy plastered all over (some of them are even wearing it).

4. Going back to number 1, I'm a pacifist at heart. I can't believe that war is a good answer to any question -- violence begets violence more often than not. We've fought a few wars over the years. And we keep having more. And we now have the power to blow up the planet, so it seems that maybe, just maybe, we should consider other options. Especially when we remember that we aren't the only ones who have the power to blow up the planet. To give you Sting (or was it The Police?) "I hope the Russians love their children, too."

5. I have friends who have been shipped overseas in the past few years (thankfully they're all in country now) and I am horrified and a bit disgusted that patriotism, at the moment, means toe the line and put a ribbon magnet on the car. I don't know how a ribbon magnet helps my friends overseas. To me, patriotism does not mean that I swallow the party line of the ruling party, hook, line, and sinker. It means that I have the right to question a governmental decision that places lives on the line. It means that I can oppose the government I elected (or tried to) when I disagree with it. It means that I can support the men and women who are following orders while disagreeing with those issuing those orders. And I do.

6. Which all leads to this: I would not stand up and defend my country with arms. But here, in this country, I have the right to speak my mind without fear of retribution -- this is somewhat less true today than it was 5 years ago, but the right is still enshrined in the founding documents of our nation. I have the right to pursue happiness, life, and liberty. Our government, being entirely made up of humans, is faulty. So is that of every other nation on earth. If we use our faculties for learning, we can sculpt an even better world from our vast resources. Our many mistakes provide ample opportunities to learn and grow and strengthen what it is we have. If those of us being represented in this representative democracy stop taking for granted our liberties, and use our lives to participate -- if we exercise the same freedoms at home that we say we are fighting to grant the citizens of other nations -- we can be a part of something great.

With freedom, with opportunities, with liberty, comes the responsibility to use our lives wisely.

Happy Independence Day.