The Glorious Fourth

I see fireworks
I see the paegant, the pomp and parade
I hear the bells ringing out
I hear the cannons roar
I see Americans - all Americans
Free forever more

A clarification

For those of you who may not know - those words in my last entry weren't mine. They are the words from the letters of John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States of America and a major force in getting the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence (which was finally finished signing on July 6, 1776, to be accurate, although it's dated July 4).

The words were put together in the song, "Is Anybody There?", the climatic song of the musical "1776", which tells the story of that signing. It's not the most historically accurate of musicals (but what is?), but it's close enough, and well worth watching, for those who haven't. I quoted the full lyrics last year at this time in my LJ. It's still my favorite song from the musical - beating out "The Lees of Old Virginia" by a hair.

The debate of what exactly is freedom has shaped America over the last two hundred and twenty-seven years, and continues to make things interesting. To let anyone - Republican or Democrat or Green or anyone in between or otherwise settle the discussion once and for all is to invite tyranny of the basest sort. The necons are trying to do that - to shut everyone up and turn them to their idea of freedom by invoking the word "terrorism". And their idea of freedom is the freedom to make as much money as possible at the expense of others and to impose their world view on everyone else at the expense of individual opinion. That is why they must be stopped.