S. Bone
Posted: 07/04/2012

We Do Not Need a Fourth

On this "Fourth" of July, a holiday formerly known as Independence Day, America awakes to a nation where the Supreme Court won't uphold the Constitution, where the president actively undermines the Bill of Rights, and where Congress only makes meaningless, empty gestures in the name of freedom.

On this "Fourth," we awake to a country in which international banks, multinational corporations, and lobbyists for foreign nations are running our country at the very literal expense of the millions of still-working Americans who have become their wage slaves.

On this day on which we are supposed to celebrate the common man's independence from kings and autocrats, we rise in a country in which the Supreme Court has declared faceless commercial corporations to be people, but in which real people have no right to make choices over their own commercial activity.

On this "Fourth," there is an out-and-out war on America's Middle Class, by the elite, in the cynical and disingenuous name of the poor—the ranks of which are ever increasing due to the elite's war on the Middle Class.

On this "Fourth" most Americans know about the state of their nation, but few will speak of it for fear of having to recognize this American "Valdemort." Naming it infers the moral obligation to take action and too many Americans have long ago grown too soft for moral action.

On this "Fourth," I see a nation occupied by multinational corporations and foreign interests, with its own citizens reduced to second-class, servant status. That is not something to celebrate.

On this "Fourth," I see an economy collapsing under the weight of a militaristic, activist government that is in a state of constant war making to benefit a few military industry corporations at the expense of everyone else. That is not something to celebrate.

On this "Fourth," I see a country that is too corrupt to keep its coastlines from being despoiled by multinational corporations, too corrupt too keep its own government from running guns to criminals in neighboring nations; a country that is too poor to protect a city from flooding, too poor to keep the lights on in storm, and too poor to protect homes in a brush fire. This is not something to celebrate.

On this "Fourth," I see a third generation of Americans entering the world destined to be less prosperous, less secure and less free than their parents and grandparents. That is not something to celebrate.

On this "Fourth," I weep for my country and I am angry—because we do not need a "Fourth." What we need is an Independence Day.