{"id":98934,"date":"2018-07-02T17:40:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T23:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/independence-day\/"},"modified":"2018-07-02T17:40:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T23:40:34","slug":"independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/independence-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jerry
Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that\u2019s likely not just a 21st-century problem \u2013 the acerbic Winston Churchill once said, \u201cThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019ve entered an era where the delivery on social media of propaganda masquerading as news seems to have confounded the problem.<\/p>\n

So we propose that on this Fourth of July, you take a bit of time before you pop the top on a craft beer to learn something about the country whose birth you are celebrating. And celebrate you should; George Washington gave his soldiers a double ration of rum on this day in 1778.<\/p>\n

We believe that in these divisive days, it might help to think about what brought us together as a nation in 1776. It wasn\u2019t just about taxes the British levied against the colonists. Other grievances included limiting immigration, refusing to approve needed laws and obstructing justice.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the colonists listed many grievances in the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776. Read it. You can easily find it online. If the 18th-century language mystifies you a bit, there are plenty of explanations online as well.<\/p>\n

Or read Thomas Paine\u2019s seminal Common Sense, a pamphlet published a few months before the colonists declared independence. It\u2019s longer and more dense, but there are passages that surely will resonate.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re entertaining for the holiday, print out some famous \u2013 or not so famous \u2013 quotes on patriotism and decorate with them. Here\u2019s a sample:<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,\u201d \u2013 President John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else,\u201d \u2013 American lawyer Clarence Darrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cA patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government,\u201d \u2013 author Edward Abbey<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, \u2018We, the people,\u2019\u201d \u2013 Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg<\/p>\n

\u201cPatriotism is supporting your country all the time \u2013 and your government when it deserves it,\u201d \u2013 Mark Twain.<\/p>\n

The Fourth of July has become more of a fun summer holiday than a celebration of our country\u2019s founding. Maybe it\u2019s time to remember that its name is Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, the day wasn\u2019t recognized as a federal holiday until 1941, although it was celebrated annually. John Adams, though, believed it should have celebrated the day when the Continental Congress voted for independence, July 2, 1776. Ironically, he (and Thomas Jefferson) died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration.<\/p>\n

There is much to ponder about the past and future of our republic on this \u2013 and every \u2013 Independence Day. Start with this quote from former Republican Rep. Charles Dent of Pennsylvania:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a time of conflict \u2013 external and internal \u2013 when we sometimes concentrate too much on what divides us.<\/p>\n

Today, fly the Stars and Stripes with pride and confidence that what unites us is far stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McBride\/Durango Heralddu1-i-syn And that\u2019s likely not just a 21st-century problem \u2013 the acerbic Winston Churchill once said, \u201cThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.\u201d Now, we\u2019ve entered an era where the delivery on social media of propaganda masquerading as news seems to have confounded the problem. So we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5821,5819],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-98934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-opinion","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98934"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=98934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}