Yes, I know this is being published on July 5th. Indulge me.  I wrote it on the fourth.

There are two secular holidays that really hit home for me.  The Fourth of July is one of them. Going back to grade school, it struck me as remarkable the world had not seen anything like a functioning democracy in over a millennium and yet here we were, about to give it a go.

Between my religious beliefs and the civics I was taught, it struck me as deeply unfair that not all citizens could participate in the new democracy.  But it was still a huge departure, for the better, from anything else in the world.  Of course, I also had the benefit of hindsight so I knew our democracy improved with time.

It wasn’t until high school that I was taught the deep divisions among colonists.  That this was, in fact, a not entirely popular uprising was a shock to me.  There were colonists that left for England.  There were colonists that were rooting for the Crown.  But the cause was just even if not everyone recognized it.  

Well, perhaps that is overstating it.  The three-fifths compromise struck me as deeply immoral from the moment I learned about it.  Every year at Passover, I thought being freed from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago, while The Founding Fathers sort of shrugged their shoulders hundreds of years ago. I don’t have any brilliant insight about what should have been done differently.  It seems to me, fallible men were grappling with an impossible situation resulting in a flawed, but perhaps necessary-in-the-moment, outcome.  Slavery truly is our original sin.

But our history didn’t end with our founding.  The franchise has expanded in fits and starts throughout our history.  The application of our natural rights has also expanded.  It often takes too long but we correct our mistakes.  We keep getting better.  The Founding Fathers created a remarkable, enduring system of government.

All of this makes our current situation both infuriating and predictable.  Humankind hasn’t changed. The responses to government crackdowns in the time of the pandemic are just the same as during our founding.  Some people will gladly give up their freedom out of fear; others will always demand their freedom.

I am sure the vast majority of you are drinking all you can this weekend.  Have at it.  I’m not going to scold you for celebrating freedom.  

This week’s music. (Hat tip: KSuellington.)  And one more.