by russell
Marty's post in another thread made me ask myself what it is, exactly, that we celebrate on the 4th of July. that put me in mind of this often quoted poem by Langston Hughes.
It's long-ish, but this excerpt perhaps captures the spirit of it:
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
But read the whole thing.
America is an aspiration. It's unlikely we will ever achieve it in full, but here is hoping the idea is sufficiently compelling that we always keep trying to get there.
It's my grand-niece's birthday, at 12 she's the oldest of her generation. We'll have cake and ice cream and some crazy kid stuff going on. It's gonna be great.
Hope everyone enjoys the day. Don't blow yourself up, and call an Uber if you have a beer or two too many.
The land that never has been yet - and yet must be - is still waiting to be born.
The purpose of this memo is to justify our rebellion in the eyes of world opinion.
Devoted adherents to America First principles have some trouble accepting my modernization, for it smacks of "internationalism". But they can console themselves with the mention of "Nature's God", which America-Firsters are prone to consider a shout-out to Jesus.
I make it a point to re-read the Declaration of Independence every 4th of July, just to remind myself how interesting a mixture of timeless wisdom ("We hold these truths to be self-evident ...") and incidental racism (... the merciless Indian Savages ...) this famous memo really is. And then there are the foreshadowings of present-day controversies, like this complaint against King George III.
I haven't researched enough to know, but I would bet serious money that most of the signers of the Declaration were younger than I am. Or than most of us here, for that matter. An excellent piece of work for men so young, to be sure, but can I bring myself to a quasi-religious reverence for them? Can I think of them as demigods whose opinions were inherently wiser and more mature than the opinions of modern-day Americans? Not exactly. In my charitable moments I am inspired to hope that my modern-day fellow citizens can be just as wise as the Signers, if for no other reason than that we know about 250 years more history and over 1000 times more science than they did. Then I allow myself to peek at the news, and I begin to doubt.--TP
In modern Business English, this opening sentence of the Declaration would have been:Posted by: Tony P. | July 05, 2021 at 01:20 AM
Just reading Michael Klarman's (excellent) Framers' Coup, which gives a good idea of how anxious were most of those who wrote the Constitution not to put too far into practice the finer ideals of the Declaration.
The making of constitutions is not unlike the manufacture of sausages, as Bismark might have opined.
Posted by: Nigel | July 05, 2021 at 08:03 AM
Tow nations, divided by a common language...
https://twitter.com/Daniel_Sugarman/status/1412013197226299396
Posted by: Nigel | July 05, 2021 at 08:07 AM
(It would help if I could spell two...)
Posted by: Nigel | July 05, 2021 at 08:07 AM
Tony P: much interesting stuff, thank you.
Nigel: LOL
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | July 05, 2021 at 10:17 AM
I haven't researched enough to know, but I would bet serious money that most of the signers of the Declaration were younger than I am.
"It’s a simple question—perhaps so basic that it’s been overlooked: How old were the leaders of the American Revolution?
As it turns out, many Founding Fathers were younger than 40 years old in 1776, with several qualifying as Founding Teenagers or Twentysomethings. And though the average age of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was 44, more than a dozen of them were 35 or younger."
How Old Were the Leaders of the American Revolution on July 4, 1776?: Younger than you think.
Posted by: CharlesWT | July 05, 2021 at 11:28 AM
There were some highly successful teenage generals in European history. Most of the past would be astonished about how late in life we put people into positions of responsibility to-day.
Posted by: Hartmut | July 05, 2021 at 12:00 PM
Most of the past would be astonished about how late in life we put people into positions of responsibility to-day.
Two things:
First, when life expectancies are shorter, you have to get started quicker. Specifically and especially to raise your children to maturity while you last. Plus, there are more older people still holding those positions of responsibility, so the opportunities to grab them young are substantially more limited.
Second, the world has gotten substantially more complex. It just takes longer to learn everything you need to know in order to function above the very lowest level. (And even so, for lots of careers you have to keep learning yet more stuff for decades, even while you are acquiring more responsibilities.)
Posted by: wj | July 05, 2021 at 01:24 PM
Not that everyone also uses the extra time given for acquiring the necessary maturity :-(
Posted by: Hartmut | July 05, 2021 at 01:53 PM
Competent parents can raise children who are reasonably mature by their mid-teens. They need more information to live their lives, but they are mature in their judgements and behaviors otherwise.
But some people seem incapable of achieving maturity until a far later age. Or, in depressingly many cases, ever.
Posted by: wj | July 05, 2021 at 10:25 PM
Allow me to say that I have been richly enjoying the accounts of Patriot Front fascist wanna-be's getting chased out of Philly on 4th of July eve by random bystanders.
Brave, brave sir Robin! Who needs antifa when you've got Gritty?
sic semper nazi fanbois.
Posted by: russell | July 06, 2021 at 10:00 AM
In an altercation that occurred during a trip with friends in DC, my wife yelled to an adversary, "Come to Philly, motherf*cker! We'll see how tough you are!"
There you have it.
(My darling bride is usually a preschool-teacher/librarian sort of person. Just don't make her mad.)
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | July 06, 2021 at 10:32 AM
Meanwhile on the other side of the pond the England football team manager is being accused by the Tories of being a tool for, wait for it:
"deep woke"
https://twitter.com/search?q=deep%20woke
https://www.ft.com/content/f177cfd0-24b8-49ba-bdd8-99b975828d23
Posted by: novakant | July 06, 2021 at 10:53 AM
There you have it.
hsh, I love your wife.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | July 06, 2021 at 11:59 AM
hsh, I love your wife.
Me, too. ;^)
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | July 06, 2021 at 01:09 PM
The land that never has been yet - and yet must be - is still waiting to be born.
Real Americans know this. Here is one such person:
https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/nikole-hannah-jones-issues-statement-on-decision-to-decline-tenure-offer-at-university-of-north-carolina-chapel-hill-and-to-accept-knight-chair-appointment-at-howard-university/
Posted by: bobbyp | July 06, 2021 at 06:09 PM
thanks for this post
Posted by: سئو تضمینی | July 29, 2021 at 07:07 PM