Happy Independence Day USA

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Today, the USA celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This document signed some 243 years ago today created a revolutionary idea that humans should be free to choose their government rather than be subjected to the arbitrary whims of a hereditary ruler who claimed to have a mandate from God himself to command the obedience of his subjects. Isn't it ironic that 240 years after we declared independence from one such ruler we should elect a President who claims the same authority and demands the same level of unquestioning obedience to his will? As most of you know, the American Revolution is said to have been fought over taxation. This is not exactly the case. The colonists' primary complaint against the Crown and Parliament was not the taxes themselves. The colonists' real gripe was the lack of representation in Parliament when it came to voting on the taxes. Remember the famous "Shot Heard 'Round the World." It is a common phrase used to describe the Battle of Lexington and Concord that took place in Massachusetts in 1775. This battle actually had nothing to do with taxes. It was fought over the right of the colonists to keep and bear arms. The British marched from Boston with the intent of seizing the gun powder stored at the armories in these two towns as they would later succeed in doing in Williamsburg, Virginia. This action by the British is why there is the Second Amendment to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights. It was put there to ensure the government could never disarm the citizenry. Independence Day has always been a celebration of the ideals the Founding Fathers incorporated into the Declaration of Independence. For most of us here in the US, it is a time for get-togethers, cookouts, vacations, parades, and fireworks, and it still will be. There are some, though, seeking to turn the 4th of July into an intimidating show of force meant to cow our adversaries, warn our allies, and serve to remind our own people that the American government has the power to do what it wants, where it wants, to whom it wants, anytime it wants. This is not at all in keeping with the Spirit of '76 born on that hot, humid, Philadelphia day 243 years ago.