TAKE BACK THE FOURTH!

Tomorrow is the ‘Glorious’ Fourth.
And this year, it feels like anything but. And I know I’m not alone in feeling that way by any means.
I’m also tired of the gleeful meanness of what I call, and invite my readers to call, the ‘rule-AND-ruin gang’. No, that’s not a misprint. I mean ‘rule-and-ruin’. The gang claiming that only they should be the rulers, and if they must share with others, they threaten to ruin the country for all of us. One problem with that is, they ruin the country even worse if and when they are the sole rulers — for all of us except themselves! So them as the only rulers is a lose-lose proposition for the rest of us!
I draw a heavy sigh and imagine what life might be like if we lived somewhere else where people actually treat each other (individually and collectively) more like human beings rather than as enemies. And this is no less true in ‘blue’ states than in ‘red’ ones. For me, the Herblock cartoon dated March 12, 1963, still has too dam’ much to say in that respect!
Then I think of our down-the-road neighbor (95 miles or so, actually) who has written that she won’t let this crowd steal the Fourth, the flag and other patriotic displays from her. She will display the flag tomorrow, and I for one say, more power to you, our own Maggie!
And along with that, I remember a guest column written by a law professor who makes the very cogent point that our side now needs patriotism more than ever. I ponder how spot-on he is. Especially since he points out something I also noticed and mentioned in a post I wrote on July 5 of last year about how actual victims of our system often seem…