Beyond barbeques and fireworks

The Times has a venerable tradition of opining on the Fourth about the Fourth. This year, the editorial board ponders what it means, 232 years into this great social experiment, to be American:

The Declaration of Independence, which we honor today, is replete with the internal tensions and contradictions of 18th century America, a paean to equality written by a slaveholder, a proclamation of "unalienable rights" by white, landed men willing to bestow those rights only on a precious few. If many of the contradictions of the declaration and its more sober counterpart, the Constitution, have been resolved over time — some by war, others by protest — one abiding point of stress continues to vex the modern nation: Is ours a country of order, of institutions and constitutional provisions, or one of revolutionary upheaval, suspicious of power and the authorities who wield it? The answer, of course, is that it is both, though we often forget it.

In 1900, The Times offered "thanksgiving to the Almighty God," and called for enthusiastic celebration of "The Glorious Fourth":

There are many and divers reasons why we should celebrate "The Fourth" this year with more than the usual gusto. In spite of all the complaints and cavilings and calamity wails of political pessimists and other birds of evil omen, the people of the United States were never freer, never more prosperous, never more patriotic, never more fully conscious of their freedom, their greatness, their prosperity, and of all their blessing than they are today.

On the nation's "Natal Day" in 1908, we pondered the history of democracy:

There were many republics before now that were born but to die. Rome crumbled and Venice perished amid her shining waters. The dusts of time are thick above free nations that are lost and long forgotten. Shall our republic also go the way of the dust? We do not think so; and God forbid!

In 1955, an Op-Ed writer offered a humorous love letter — how perfectly L.A.! — to buying a fancy foreign car.

And wartime 1945 admonished readers to "Think About Being a Corpse on 'The Fourth,'" and to stay away from firecrackers (a message that resonates today). Citing deaths from fireworks, drownings, and traffic accidents on past Fourths of July — casualties from "impulsive stupidity" and "foolish attempts to make a little noise and to attract a little attention" — The Times observed that:

This year our tribute to our boys fighting in the Pacific ought to be to make the observance of the Fourth what it should always be — an occasion for the remembrance of all Americans who in the past have so lived and died that our freedom and our liberty become more secure as each Independence Day arrives.

Fast forward to the 21st century, and editorial boards and presidential politics junkies aren't the only Americans who spent the week leading up to the Fourth mulling the finer points of patriotism, from flag pins to flying. Readers from all over the United States flocked to The Times this week to show their stripes.

Some, like Richard LaThair, of Kaysville, Utah, kept the rhetoric lofty:

On a past July Fourth, I proudly placed an American flag in my front yard. Someone passed by that afternoon and stole it. Is this how some people regard America? You take what you want, regardless how it may hurt your fellows?

This year again, I will display our flag. It will be there to represent one of the highest elements of our great nation. Brotherhood.

We reach out to help our neighbors. We protect each other from harm, rather than being the source of it.

We diligently preserve the rights and well-being of all others. Discrimination we never tolerate.

We respect each other. Especially when there are differences amongst us. We enrich one-another through these differences.

Kindness uplifts others. Even a smile, and a casual "Hello" to a stranger. They'll likely pass it on, and it will flow through-out all our eminent society.

Arnold Steiber of Grass Lake, Michigan, offered a more critical take.

On this July Fourth, the celebration of our independence, it is important to reread the 1776 Declaration, and note that many of the listed abuses exist today. We should use July Fourth to renew our heritage and declare our independence from greed, corruption and deceit of politicians, corporations and financial institutions. These groups have conspired to institute laws and practices that are contrary to our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Democracy is much more than voting. Democracy requires action. Like our founding fathers, we must actively speak out and defend the rights that have been endowed upon us by our Creator. We are not pawns and slaves. We are a free and independent people and we must work to remain so. To do otherwise is to invite domination and the abuse of power. Democracy is a verb.

And several saw fit to make explicit their Declaration of Independence from a modern King George (Bush, that is.) Wrote Janice Kaiser, of Ventura:

How many Americans celebrating this Fourth of July remember that the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were British subjects, and therefore traitors for demanding their rights as human beings?

Among those rights were the right to know the charges held against them, and the right to a trial by jury. This speaks directly to today and the prisoners that our government is holding at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Another was that the government/military could not house soldiers in colonists' homes without permission. This too can be related to today, when Bush had our government wiretap citizens without court permission or oversight.

With George Bush as president does it sometimes seem as though we are fighting for our liberty against George III all over again?

Andrew Lyons sought to make secession a patriotic act:

As we approach July Fourth, a day in which we broke away from The British Empire to form our own nation, I ask my fellow Californians to consider seceding from the United States.

When one looks upon the laundry list of things that Californians value — universal healthcare, cleaner air, better fuel economy standards, alternative energy sources, medical marijuana, gay marriage, a better sense of liberty and justice, for all — it is all too clear that the only way we are going to be free to live the way we awant to, is to break away from The Union and form our own Republic. Once we are unencumbered by the rest of the US and able to form our own path, I believe that we will rise up to form a Nation that would be far superior to the country we currently reside in.

Clark Haass, of Beaverton, Ore., rewrote the original Declaration:

The history of the present President of the United States and his attendant Administration is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute moral and political bankruptcy of these Fifty United States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for in the name of the war on terror.

He has made Judges and District Attorney's dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance, utterly failing them during Katrina and impeding their progress through airports against a foe whose actions cannot be known or controlled - ever.

For quartering large bodies of armed Blackwater Mercenaries abroad:

For imposing Tax rebates and cuts on us without our informed Consent on surpluses, concealing impending deficits and pushing the reckoning or Social Security integrity to future Presidents and generations further:

For depriving combatants in the "war on terrorism" in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting or rendering combatants beyond Seas to be tried or tortured for offences without habeas corpus:

...

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A President and Congress, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, devoid of responsibility to the will of the people it supposes to represent, is unfit to be the government of a free people.

I, therefore, a free Citizen of the fifty united States of America, in, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of my intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the First Amendment Rights, solemnly publish and declare, That the people of these united States are, and of Right ought to be Free of the intolerable acts of the President Administration and Congress, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to an utterly failed and corrupt international and public Policy, and that all political trust and confidence between them and the President Administration and Congress, is and ought to be totally dissolved.

To read Haass' entire Declaration, click here. And have a happy — and safe — Fourth of July.

How do you celebrate the Fourth? Discuss today's Letters Plus.