Happy Fourth

 Photo credit: Clay Banks

We drove past the Harford County Courthouse the other day and there was a crowd gathered to support the non-re-election of Congressman Andy Harris (R, MD) who is most notable for opposing sensible health coverage for all Americans and then, on the very day he was sworn into office, demanding that he needed to get on the government healthcare rolls at once, because God forbid he should twist an ankle jumping to conclusions, or get a splinter from being out all alone on a precarious limb.

The photo above is stock and is not of the Harris protest. Harris is not the point here. My point is to celebrate today as the birthday of our American Independence. On this day in 1776, we struck a blow for the freedoms of the people by announcing we were done with British rule, and going out on our own: 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.

And that, my friends, means no more Kings and Queens. We tend to take our liberties for granted, but no one should forget for one minute that to attract a crowd on the courthouse lawn to denounce a politician would have severe consequences in other countries. I know people who dare not say a bad word about any person in power for fear of being dragged into court and prison.

There will be parades today, and bands, and picnics, and the wondrous hoopla that the Fourth of July brings us, but let's not forget some of the things that make this country great, as it always has been, and always shall be.