When in the Course....

Since NPR got hate tweets as a result of tweeting this radical document yesterday, I thought I would add to the publicity. Here is our founding document:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous

Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — 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 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 mean time 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.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

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:

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:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

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

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

A Hoedown for the Fourth

In keeping with my thoughts from yesterday, here is my new video for 2017's Independence Day. Let's just have a great summer hoedown and have fun for the Fourth. Let bells ring and fireworks light up the night!

Bells and Bonfires; Games and Sports

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
-John Adams

Solemnize: To perform or celebrate

It does not mean: to make dull and boring.

John Adams had it right about Independence Day. It is not a day of somberness and overwhelming gravity. It is a day to celebrate. To remind ourselves of the joy of freedom. It is a day for fun and games, not boredom inducing speeches. It is a day to give gratitude that we live in such a country where freedom was given new definitions.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.
-John F. Kennedy

A couple years ago I put together a short video simply to show fireworks. It is the John Adams' way!

The Way John Adams Would Want It

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding
Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Happy Birthday, USA

As we continue this weekend of celebration, 

here's the video I produced last year.

Happy Birthday to US.

Thoughts Before the Fourth

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Over the past couple months I have been deeply aware of the political insanity we are facing this presidential election year. It has probably been the single meanest election since 1860 which ended with Lincoln's election and the secession of the southern states. It may even surpass the 1800 election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson for media mis-reporting, name calling, and downright uncivil discourse.

The only word I can use to describe my feeling about the election is

fear.

As I have said before we have two candidates who at this point are deeply distrusted by major portions of the electorate, including staunch members of their own parties. I have conservative friends who express great fear of Hillary becoming president. I do not share their concerns and believe that she will be an "average" president. The fear with her election is that the GOP will continue their 8-year blockade of Congressional action. They dislike her more than they dislike Obama, if that is possible. The Do-Nothing Congress will continue. Not her fault, but still a reality.

But Donald Trump terrifies me. For two reasons:

1) He is a loose cannon of a leader, incredibly narcissistic, and even delusional about himself, his power, his skills, the way a country can run, etc. For one who speaks of the future greatness of America, his statements often indicate that he is willing to move toward that greatness by dismantling what has made America great in the past. He is willing to undermine the very values, rights, and principles that are often pointed to as American exceptionalism. He has been doing this on a level of personal attack, insinuations, and downright lies. This incredible lack of respect for his opponents does not allow for any discourse. I have the fear that this and his  policies and ideas will disprove any idea of American exceptionalism. It could place us in the camp of demagogue-run nations. It is my opinion that one cannot reconcile an idea of American exceptionalism with Trump's ideas and truly low-ball values.

2) I am also afraid of what the election has so far shown us of the deep divisions within our country. Trump's appeal to a generally white, male, older electorate intent on a narrow nationalistic view of who we are places this in the same class as the 1860 election. I don't believe a civil war will erupt if one or the  other gets elected, but the strong opinions are certainly worrying. Americans have often been able to see through demagoguery. But when the levels of anger are stirred and even encouraged as they have been by Trump's style, we are in a different ballgame. Some of it has even slid over to part of Sanders' support. If Hillary wins, this anger will only intensify by the actions of her opponents. If Trump wins, all bets are off on what will happen.

We survived the election of 1800 and are still working on the fallout from 1860. There is a deep, intense fear that we may face many years of uncertainty and anger with this one. I was recently looking at the video I produced last year for the Fourth of July which is posted for Monday. It is a celebration of America the Beautiful,  a wonderful, exceptional country. It is a country I am proud of and deeply grateful to have been born in. We are a country with a rich heritage of hope for immigrants (all my family, even those who came over before 1776!) We are a country who has survived through the wisdom of the founders developing a three-branch government with checks and balances and a principle that we can adapt the founding document to meet the changing times.

Yet, as I watched that video again I found sadness and a nagging sense of urgency. The thought came into my mind that this could be the last Fourth of July with the freedoms we celebrate every year. Things could get ugly; things could get uncertain; rights could be seriously negated. All in the name of national security or alleviating fear or, worst, expressing anger.

Some of my friends have told me I am overreacting. Others have said that they have the same fear. One conservative friend said that in the end he isn't as worried as I am. We survived Obama, he said. We can survive either Hillary or Trump. I keep saying I have great faith in the American people to make the best decision. I have not lost that, but the forces allying themselves against us are great.

It is a long time until Election Day. Much will be written and reported, presented and mis-presented in these four months. May we be open to discourse and discussion. May some sense of civility lead us to act as the citizens of the leader of the free world, modeling the power of democracy to do what is right.

That is the heart of my celebration of who we are this Fourth of July 2016.

Still Worth Celebrating The John Adams Way

Okay, it's only been a week since the Fourth of July. Since it is pretty difficult to do a video of THIS year's fireworks before the Fourth, I thought I would still post it on the 1-week anniversary of the Fourth of July. That way, if I forget by next July, I will already have it done.

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday, USA

Here's my new video

celebrating

the Fourth of July.

Happy Birthday, USA

Independence Day
July 4, 2014

A Picture Gallery from Philadelphia

Since It Is the 4th of July

For the week of July 4 I stopped by my neighbors, the Bald Eagles over by the Zumbro River. They were both at home and posed well for some pictures. So, for the 4th, here they are, from my own neighborhood.

Celebrating Independence

Okay- it's only July 3, but many communities have their fireworks tonight. So here is my fun little video I made from last year's fireworks here in Rochester, MN. I am getting better at learning how to use Final Cut Pro. Someday I might even become a semi-real film maker.

Enjoy- and have a safe 4th of July.

Sidenote: Written this day in 1776 by future president John Adams:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not. (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142).

Still Celebrating

There is nothing wrong with America

that cannot be cured

by what is right with America.

~William J. Clinton

Independence Day

Statue of Liberty

New York City

October 14, 2006

Happy Independence Day 2012

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
~Erma Bombeck

“As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.”
~George Washington

“You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom. You can be free only if I am free.”
~Clarence Darrow

“The real democratic idea is, not that every man shall be on a level with every other, but that every one shall have liberty, without hindrance, to be what God made him”
~Henry Ward Beecher

Happy Birthday for Another year

The wonder of the American march led by an amazing conductor and a remarkable orcehstra.

And one more, with soul. A heartfelt rendition and video that shows the real beauty of America- the people.

Happy Birthday, my homeland, the United States.

One More Day to Celebrate

For many today is still part of the holiday weekend (although I am working today.) So I thought I would cross-post this from my pmPilgrim photoBlog. Independence can mean many things- and one of them is the "pursuit of happiness." Take a moment and once more give thanks for that today.

On the Hiawatha along the Susquehanna River near Williamsport, PA

Date: August 1, 2008

Happy Fourth of July 2010

At Soldier's Memorial Field in Rochester, MN.

Independence Day, 2007
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

--Top picture- pmPilgrim;
--Center and Bottom linked from Wikipedia

Quotes In Preparation for the Fourth of July
Tomorrow is American Independence Day, July 4. It is a day to celebrate what would be illegal if attempted today. Such is the fate of revolutions. But at the same time it challenges us to think deeply about what it all can mean for us. So, to get us ready, here are some appropriate quotes.

First, George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist and literary critic, reminds us that liberty is a dangerous thing.

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."

Laurence J. Peter, educator and author of The Peter Principle, gets a little cynical, as may very well be appropriate.

"Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame."

Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist and poet, shows that the desire for rebellion is more than just a value of the depths of American history.

"Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made."

Statesman and President Thomas Jefferson, would agree, I am sure, with Wilde’s attitude. He said it so well himself.

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive."

Charles Austin Beard, constitutional historian and political scientist, reflects on the same theme and gives us a warning about being too American when it comes to truly paying attention to history.

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.

And finally, former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis gives us the final warning that what we have will probably not be taken away through outside intervention but the actions of those who think they are really doing the right thing.

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.

I sure am glad I am an American where I can think and write these things and celebrate my freedom and hope and liberty.

Am I Sure About That?
It is the week of the 4th of July here in the good, old US of A. That means we get downright strange in mixing our country with our faith, our culture with our religion. Such as this seemingly positive saying on a church sign I saw recently:

Liberty is God's Gift to Us.

At first glance I nodded and thought, appropriately, Thank You, God! But then it hit me, does that mean that God has withheld such an awesome gift from so many other people for so many years? Does that mean that if I had had the "bad luck" of being born somewhere else in the world where a dictator reigns, or liberty is bounded by stricter laws, or in all those millennia prior to 1776, that I would never have known the gift of God?

And why, why of all the nations in the world would God bestow it upon us, the US, and not on others? I know the "correct" answer is because we were founded as a Christian nation and on the principles of Christianity. But, first of all that is only partially true. Second, it is an immense hubris on our part. Third, I think it is a misunderstanding of God's work in the world.

Liberty, freedom, democracy are truly remarkable gifts. We have been given them in abundance, although at times we seem far too eager to give them up for some small amount of what we think is security. And yes, many of the great values that we uphold do come from our "Western-Greco-Judeo-Christian" ethic. But our task is not to look at this as making us somehow better or holier or more in touch with God. A quick look at our history shows that we have exhibited less than a stellar performance in that area. After all, we are human.

But we keep trying. That may be the key to me. And that may be why I still can sing that old Irving Berlin anthem, God Bless America. It is a prayer, not a statement of fact. It is a prayer, not that God shower us with more blessings- that's part of the prosperity gospel. Rather it is a prayer that will allow us to remain a land of the free. It is a prayer that we not revel in our good fortune, but be downright thankful that in the great mysteries of the universe, we have been lucky- downright overwhelmingly lucky to live here.

I pray that we may use that awareness and prayer, then to live our freedoms, stand up for them right here at home. That we step back from the natural tendency toward arrogance to a more humble understanding of what it means to be blessed by God. That means to be a servant, willing to work for the possibility and hope of our good fortune going beyond our shores and for those who seek to come here for it.



This picture from Ellis Island says it in so many ways. These immigrant children are as much a representation of who we are as the flag itself.

So Happy Birthday, United States. I'm grateful to be here.