4 July 1776.
The declaration was made to George III and Parliament by the 13 colonies who were no longer willing to be ruled by tyranny. And in 1774, they began to organize and take the steps necessary for the inevitable war that would come.
4 July 2024.
248 years later – the democracy fought for has come under threat by those who think their side matters more than the people and what the people want. It started in 2015 and it continues as one side rages against democracy — and make no mistake, they think that only their beliefs matter.
My only advice: Do your own research. Think about the freedoms you enjoy and how you would feel if they were threatened or already taken away. I keep seeing bumper stickers, state license plates and flags with the colonial saying “Don’t Tread on Me” — do they really understand that the me represented the 13 colonies featured as the snake with the warning of – you step on me and their will be a consequence you won’t forget. And the British attempted to step and got the fight of their lifetime.
A fight that brought about the first democracy in the world. It wasn’t a slogan for a select group – as it is being paraded around now – of people. In a democracy, you don’t have to agree with everyone – that’s why free and fair elections were devised. So that the people would have the ability to determine the what, how, when, where and why of the government. But some would have you believe that their what, how, when, where and why should supersede the will of many. There are moderate/mainstream voters in both parties – which, at one time, made up the majority of each. However, in the last two decades, the fringe elements of the left and the right have tried to take power from the majority … and one side has lost their identity because they think their way is the only way. And it’s not.
You don’t have to agree with me at all, but what you should be doing is asking yourself about this 248-year-old experiment that has withstood a great deal and why one side thinks the abolishment of our democratic institutions and absolute power be given to one individual and how it bests 248 years running. The vast majority of Americans, I bet, are not – whether they are vocal or quiet – willing to give up their rights, freedoms and ideologies so easily. And those who are – believe that somehow they’ll retain their rights and freedoms – but history does not bear that out in any empire or nation where democracy is taken by a select few.
I, personally, am not ready to give anyone who wants to take my rights and freedoms – which are the bedrock of American democracy – away just because they think they are right. I think that these people who believe this way flying their little flags, with their bumper stickers or state license plates and lapel pins saying “Don’t Tread on Me” – realise that there are millions they’re attempting to tread on and are going to experience the same consequences the British experienced trying to hold the colonists to British law.
My So-Called Life. 