The corn is knee high

As a matter of fact, we ' ve had ample rain this year (unlike last summer) and it ' s a little more than knee high. The farm fields and gardens -- including mine -- are jumping. The point of this seeming digression is that July 4 is not really an occasion for people to contemplate the nature of the American experiment or the meaning of patriotism or anything else having to do with national purpose or identity. It marks the unofficial start of summer, and it ' s an occasion to drink too much, grill cheap (and carcinogenic) meat products, and watch fireworks displays.Contrary to Lincoln ' s famous oratory, our fathers did not actually bring forth a new nation on July 4, 1776. Rather, a loose coalition of independent polities individually and severally renounced allegiance to the British king. It took another year before they even had a formal agreement of alliance, and thirteen before they created a functioning nation. The extent to which the preservation of slavery motivated secession by the southern states is fiercely disputed, but this seems to me pretty much a quibble. However they viewed the practicality of secession, they were tenaciously committed to the preservation, and indeed the expansion of the institution of slavery, for more than the next 90 years when they finally suffered a bloody military defeat.All of which is also to say that the stirring words of the Declaration of Independence, that " all men are created equal . . . endowed . . . with inalienable rights " w...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs