Fourth of July 2025
I live in a suburb of Philadelphia and the local Fourth of July parade passes the end of my block. For me, the spectacle of unthinking patriotism is getting harder and harder to stomach, but I go anyway. I still love this country. I love this country, not for what it is or what it ever was but for what it might be if it ever fully lived up to its founding ideas. I am sure that I heard that somewhere but I don’t remember where. I used to love parades with their marching bands, string bands, drum lines and dancing groups but the fun was gone and I could see nothing to celebrate.
The current administration is continuing the genocide started by the previous administration and is actively trying to dismantle our government with a third of voters cheering them on, another third desperately wishing for a return to the status quo not understanding that the status quo led us to where we are today and the final third driven to apathy due to government neglect and hostility.
I went to the parade carrying a large Veterans for Peace flag and a Palestinian Flag, not for self-aggrandizement as some might accuse me of, but to make sure that in the midst of the Fourth of July hoopla, that people think of the people of Gaza, even if only for a few seconds. I walked down the parade route with my flags and was greeted mostly by silence, a few dissenters and a few more statements of support but mostly silence which did not surprise me. 140 million Americans voted for one of the candidates who vowed to keep the genocide going.
As I walked and looked at my fellow Americans, the thought kept occurring to me how wholesome this all looks. Flags waving in the bright sunshine, children scampering to get candy thrown from parade floats, it all had the air of wholesomeness that belied the undercurrents of our society. The casual racism, hostility to the LGBTIQQ community, hostility towards women and immigrants legal and undocumented, the hostility towards science and education is all contributing to the disintegration of our society, but Ed we’re not all like that. No, we’re not all like that but our archaic system of government has allowed the minority a level of control not commensurate with their numbers and unscrupulous politicians and businessman are eagerly taking advantage of it.
The Fourth of July often brings about thoughts of our founding fathers, how they fought for freedom from a tyrant king but let us remember that “All men are created equal,” only applied to white, land owning men. Women and minorities were not considered. In his book The Third Reconstruction Reverend William Barber points out periods in our history where we made progress. In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War there were coalition governments in states where whites and blacks shared power. This was beaten back by the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow. In the 1950’s and 60’s civil rights for African Americans made significant advances but were beaten back by the MAGA movement. The LGBTQ community also made significant advances in civil rights also beaten back by the MAGA movement. During the FDR administration significant advances were made in providing a social safety net for the American people with the advent of Social Security and Medicare signed into law by LBJ in the 1960’s. Both of these vital programs are currently seriously in jeopardy. This is only a small sampling of what is going wrong in this country.
Instead of taking care of our people, we fund genocide and constant warfare. The United States has been at war for over 90% of its existence and every war in my 61 years has been an unnecessary war of aggression by our country. Since the end of WWII, the United States has been responsible for destroying many countries and killing millions of innocent civilians all over the world. This does not seem to me something that I want to celebrate.
The fictitious idea that the United States is a force for good in the world is so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche that it’s almost impossible to break free from. We are brainwashed from cradle to grave to believe in the righteous cause that has caused misery for so many millions of innocents worldwide. I spent twenty years in the USAF stupidly believing that I was defending freedom. When the veil finally dropped it broke my heart and made me deeply ashamed.
I specifically went to the parade to confront Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and our Representative Madeleine Dean, both ardent supporters of Israel. I asked them both if they still supported the genocide and the slaughter of innocent children and when they refused to answer I called them cowards because that is what they are, afraid of the Israel lobby and afraid to stand up against evil. So many of our politicians are behaving with similar disregard for the innocent lives lost.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (People) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator, (by their humanity.) 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, (people) deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. (Words in parentheses are mine and not part of the original document)
Declaration of Independence
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Constitution of the United States
For this country to be truly a force for good, all the we’s in our founding documents must apply to all people, no matter their race, creed, gender, sexual orientation or immigration status. Our government must promote the general welfare as stated in the preamble and the enumeration clause that sets out the responsibilities of congress. Congress must take back the war powers it was given by the Constitution and prevent endless wars of aggression that promote US hegemony and cause useless suffering at home and abroad.
Israel has convinced our politicians that wars were necessary in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria and Lebanon. Effectively, Israel has been running US foreign policy in the Middle East for several decades and no material good has come from it. We have caused the death of millions and have aided and abetted a genocide. In my military service I never thought that was possible but here it is. We must break free from Israeli domination of our politics and take care of our own, all of our own, not just white, heterosexual, gender normative people. Make war the ultimate last resort instead of the first resort it has so often been and in the future, we might truly gain our independence. We might have something to celebrate on future Fourths of July.