It is July 4, the day Americans celebrate their independence from English rule. Across the country, people are watching Hamilton, which may not be historically accurate but which is at least fostering some interest in our shared past, much as the John Adams miniseries did twelve years ago and the musical 1776 did nearly fifty years ago.
On this site, we have a post from Don Sutherland reminding people of the history of the holiday, dating back two years and still completely relevant today.
We may not have many large family gatherings in this time of covid-19, but we can still go outside and enjoy ourselves, as we have learned the disease is less likely to take effect in the open air. Thanks to the death of long distance charges and the birth of video chat, we can get together with friends and family virtually, an option that people living through previous pandemics did not have.
Tonight, in addition to the fireworks which will be broadcast on television and streamed from various locations throughout the country, we have the opportunity to walk outside and, where cloud cover permits, watch the majesty of the heavens through a partial eclipse move across the moon from 11:07 PM through 1:52 AM.
For those more oriented toward the future, we are only 122 days from the election of 2020, when everyone can celebrate their independence by voting for the candidate of their choice… which, for most of the visitors and writers here alike, can safely be said to be “not Trump.”
So… enjoy. We have stood as a country for more than 225 years, and even though we continue to deviate ever further from our founders’ vision, we retain our impressive history and we have glimmers of hope for our future.
If you want, you can even find a sandbox and stick a bunch of Pez dispensers in it to recreate Trump’s imaginary statue garden. It’s the country’s birthday, and liberty is everyone’s gift.
