Sunday Hopium - Owning The 4th
Let's work together to make this year's Independence Day celebration something deeply meaningful and powerful
Morning all. Here at Hopium Sundays are rest days, take it easy days, days to spend with family and friends, days to reboot, recharge and get ready for the week ahead.
So, I only have one thing for you today - we need to own the 4th.
What I mean by '“own the 4th” is that we should work, through our groups and networks, to make the true meaning of the holiday come to life this year. We need to find ways to make this July 4th not just about hot dogs, parades and fireworks, but one that celebrates the Declaration of Independence and our rejection of and separation from a Mad King. Of all American holidays this one should be our day, and not his. We need to use this day to remind Americans about why we built a political system of We The People that rejected monarchy and oligarchy. We need to turn this day into a celebration of our democracy, our Constitutional order, our flag, our greatness, and his betrayal of it all. We should make this a day a good day for us, an important day for us, and a really bad one for him.
I don’t know the best way to do this so I’m tossing it out there for discussion. I encourage you to float ideas with the local orgs you work with and report back with what you come up with. I think we need to have ambition beyond signs at local parades and gatherings as important as those might be. Perhaps live streamed public readings of the Declaration and parts of The Constitution by prominent citizens and elected officials. Op-eds and letters to the editor in local papers. Short videos of celebration to social media. Perhaps a focus on the four “grievances” from the Declaration that speak so powerfully to us today:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
Perhaps we together create a list of present days grievances that can be used at these events, something akin to our Letter to America concept. Remind people that these terrible Trump tariffs are a modern day form of “taxation without representation.” Not sure what the best course is. Crowd sourcing it to all of you and let’s be creative people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To get this process going let’s review the opening passages of the Declaration:
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The final graph of the Declaration:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The first paragraph of our Constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
And because someone appears to have forgotten it, the Presidential oath of office:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States
Yes, my friends, on this Independence Day we need to once again “let Facts be submitted to a candid world.” We need to celebrate our great democracy in a moment when it is under extraordinary threat. We need to connect again with the world-inspiring We The People vision that animated the creation of these United States of America almost 250 years ago.
For when we get to the other side of this - and we will - we should anticipate that it will bring an era of rebirth, re-animation and celebration of our founding principles; an era of reform and rejuvenation; an era of where this holiday becomes even more meaningful than ever.
This year, in these next few months, let’s begin that process of patriotic rebirth and renewal by owning the 4th, together.
If you need a bit more got some tasty Hopium fare for your Sunday watching, listening and reading pleasure:
My new video and post on the moment, Our Work Is Making A Real Difference.
Interviews with Jane Kleeb on building strong Democratic Parties, Rep. Joe Neguse on how House Dems are battling Trump, Senator Chris Coons on Trump’s weakening of America abroad, Glenn Kirschner on fighting Trump’s lawlessness in the courts, and MN AG Keith Ellison on how the states are emerging as powerful bulwarks against Trump.
Three more essays from me - Trump Is Looking More And More Ridiculous (important), Trump Had A Bad Week, and Stopping Trump’s Sabotage.
Happy Sunday all. Rest up and see you back here tomorrow - Simon
The December after the Declaration of Independence was issued, Thomas Paine wrote the following:
“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
We will prevail and we will conquer the tyranny that we are now experiencing. So glad to be part of this community of doers and patriots.
I have emailed the link to this article to my female Senator, Joni Ernst, pointing out that the problems that married women are having getting RealID are exactly what the SAVE Act has in store for them with registering to vote. I urged her to vote against the SAVE Act. (This is probably the first time I've ever circulated a Fox News article.) https://www.foxnews.com/travel/married-women-face-real-id-documentation-hurdles-i-cant-accept-this