I don’t know how my readers outside the United States feel, but within the USA, it’s a pretty big day. 4th of July, or Independence Day, the day we commemorate the great event of Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum taking the extraterrestrial equivalent of a Prius and using it to blow up an alien mothership.
No, but in all serious, this day is pretty important for Americans: it’s the day when our Founding Fathers got together and decided to start their own country since Britain was not giving them the rights they deserved as citizens. This was the first act of rebellion of its kind: an actual colony declaring independence, forming its own country, and defeating the homeland. It was bigger than the attempt in the 16th century by Puritans to turn Britain into a commonwealth (failed miserably by the way), and wouldn’t be matched until the French Revolution, which Romantic thinkers hailed as the beginning of an age of understanding and freedom (oh, how they must’ve felt when Napoleon became emperor; egg on their faces and all that).
I think the reason why the American Revolution went well after independence had been achieved was that while they did have excellent military victories, they also had an early version of our government in place, even during the war. Other revolutions, you see the armies and the leaders, but you don’t see any proto-government willing to take the reins after independence or liberation has been achieved. Maybe that’s why so may dictators come to power after revolutions in many countries.
And before I know it, this post just fell under the category of “Reflections”. Well, hope you have a nice 4th of July. Enjoy the fireworks and parades, don’t party too hard, and if you see an alien, let me know.
Rami Ungar The Writer 