Fourth of July, Past and Present

Re “Abandoning the Past, Mired in the Moment,” by Pico Iyer, Commentary, July 4:

Americans are not mired in the moment. Americans’ freedom and independence give each of us the right to think and do as we please in our country at any given moment of the day. If you read the introduction to the Declaration of Independence, you will find that our beliefs as a country are as strong today as they were in 1776. Reading that declaration might help some people understand why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It’s wonderful to see that Britain is on our side this time. Regardless of what we do in the short term, our vision is long and strong. Our country again celebrates the Fourth of July, the unanimous declaration of the 13 United States signed in 1776 -- 227 years ago. God bless America!

Jean Solomon

Los Angeles

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On the Fourth of July I woke up sad and depressed as I contemplated that we are perhaps the ones who are least likely to appreciate what the Declaration of Independence stands for and what our revolution was about. The Declaration of Independence was not merely a fight to be free from English rule but a fight against the aristocracy that fought to protect its power, wealth and privileges.

If it is true that a majority of American voters support George W. Bush as he attempts to destroy the progress we have made over the last 227 years, I can only hope that somewhere a groundswell of reformers, journalists and brave politicians (where are they?) will speak out against the dismantling of our freedoms, our rights and the ever-more-apparent strengthening of the rights and privileges of the rich and the mighty.

Arthur Shapero

North Hills

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Re “Even Jefferson Needed an Editor,” Commentary, July 3:

Walter Isaacson states that Benjamin Franklin, by changing, in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson’s use of the word “sacred” to “self-evident” to define the phrase “these truths” relating to the principle in question -- equality of men and their endowment by their creator with inalienable rights -- made an assertion of rationality rather than religion.

But the resulting language of this principle in the document still retains, if not a religious, at least a spiritual theme. To assert, as the document does, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,” evidences a belief in a creator who cares about us and is not indifferent to our fate.

John F. Haggerty

Woodland Hills

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Re “Champ Tears Hot Dogs and Rivals in Two,” July 5: I am disgusted with the photograph taken at the annual Fourth of July hot dog-eating contest held at Coney Island in New York. Such an event should not be permitted, especially when too many people in the U.S. go hungry. To throw away food just for fun and glory is stupid, to say the least. Why not donate the hot dogs to a charity that feeds the poor and homeless?

I.M. Byrnes

San Juan Capistrano