What the Left Thinks Of America

When Was the Last Time You Felt Good On the Fourth Of July?

When I say "good", I mean patriotic for a good reason; even proud, and not resenting one group of people as intensely as we do now.

The summer of 2000 was the last time I felt that way. I remember being on the picnic grounds with dozens of other families and not wondering where they all stood politically. I felt that I lived in a progressive country and that things could only get better.

What the hell was I thinking? And will I ever feel good on the Fourth of July again? Can all the damage be undone? Can we actually progress from here? I'd really like to feel that confidence again. I don't think it's as simple as electing a Democratic president, either.

There's been a very profound change in the American psyche over the last 200+ years. WE don't seem to think there's any danger of a government takeover, or any shadows of fascism. If we did, we'd all be in the streets today. We really don't think it could happen here.

Sorry to be so pessimistic and depressing on this beautiful day, but Independence Day just brings it all into focus and to tell you the truth, I'm scared. (zanne)

DUers Join the Pity-Party:

--The bicentennial. It's been downhill since then. That's when we were celebrating the successful end of Watergate and Nixon, the start of energy independence, and a little guy (Carter) getting the Presidency.

--Before Asshole Bush...

--I agree with you but I just can't help but notice that everyday the overall condition of the country seems to get worse. The repukes are capable of undoing faster than we can even become aware of what they've undone THIS time and tomorrow and next week there will be more undoing. Who can keep up with the destruction? We're treating today as a normal weekday.....and no Chinese fireworks for us.

--In 1967 when I was 12. A year later, Bobby Kennedy and MLK had been assasinated, my friend's brother had died in Vietnam, and I was feeling betrayed by every adult I knew--but especially by LBJ who was supposed to carry on JFK's legacy.

The sad thing is I figured when my generation was old we would achieve World Peace, the end to racism, the end of poverty and hunger, et al. I could not have been more wrong or less of a visionary, ya think?

But here's an irony: 4th of July 2000 I was in a totally patriotic mood, what with Clinton stepping on the global stage and America leading the world again with the internet and computer revolution. What a f**ing tragedy that SCOTUS killed our dreams 5 months later!

--When Nixon resigned, we had a true Independence Day. I remember the day Richard Nixon walked out of the White House for the last time. I was riding around Amherst, MA with my friends when the news came over the radio and the DJ played "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead".

We could hear horns blowing everywhere. That night, it was a huge party. We all felt so secure in the fact that things could only get better--that our generation would see to it. We couldn't even imagine what was already in the works.

--1960. Then I joined the marines and that cured me of "patriotism".

--1963. The country has not been the same since November 22 of that year.

--This is the first year that I've felt less than positive about the Fourth, and part of the reason for that is that this year, more than any other, they are totally equating the 4th with honoring the military.

The military has Memorial Day and Veterans' Day. And while I understand that the military helps protects our democracy, what this day stands for isn't military... it's the IDEA of true democracy and freedom, which is embodied by much, much more than our military and which is being dismantled, brick by brick, by the Right.

--Today, I feel what those Germans who opposed Hitler must have felt when faced with displays of nationalism.

--I never have. Just not the rah-rah type. I am an American by accident of birth, nothing more. Also I despise the view that Americans are "exceptional": we are the best,kindest, most good-looking, tallest, strongest, bestest country EVER. Which is a whole lot of nonsense, in my opinion.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1247696

Do you REALLY want these people 'leading' us in '08?