The Meaning of the 4th Today

The 4th of July celebrates the Declaration of Independence. Historically, the Declaration was actually adopted on the 2nd of July, but the date on the document is the 4th, so that’s what we celebrate. It had been a while since I actually read the entirety of the Declaration. Like so many others, I only remembered snippets from the document, but the thrust of the entirety was lost.

I got interested in taking a fresh look when Dr. Chaterjee, who’s running in CD 2 against Franks, visited a Drinking Liberally gathering (I’m in the process of doing an write up of his candidacy) here in Tucson. He’s a real geek (which we need more of in Congress), and he played for me a radio reading of the Declaration by Jack Kennedy from 1957 that had been pressed into a limited edition record and given to Chat’s father. It was so special to Dr. Chat that he digitized it, and now carries it with him all the time.

You can listen to it via WGBH Boston’s archive.

What strikes me is that Jefferson and his collaborators are not laying out the case for declaring independence from a foriegn power; they are laying out the case for independence from their fellow Englishmen and their rightful rulers, the King and Parliament. This is a divorce, not the the eviction of a oafish intruder.

The Declarants complain that they are denied effective representation in their government, that laws obnoxious to their interests are being passed without their consent, that the ruler is acting like a tyrrant and ignoring the needs and opinions of his people, and eating out the people’s substance with costly wars and preferences for his cronies. Tyrrany can come not only from a foreign occupier, and not only from the undemocratic ruler, but also from a tyrannous majority who seek to rule and remake society without any decent respect for the opinions of the minority. Ultimately, it was not just the King and the Parliament whom the Declarants were severing ties from, but from their fellow Englishmen who did nothing to allay their ill-treatment and happily profited from continuing injustices to the colonists. The colonists lifted themselves free from a political family that had become tyrannous and unfair to them, and created themselves as Americans.

There is a lesson in the 4th of July for the current state of political affairs in America. Tyranny will not be tolerated long in America, not even the tyrrany of the majority. Of course, nobody is prepared to set up barricades in the streets separating ‘blue’ and ‘red’ neighborhoods… of yeah, gated communities are already doing that. And there is no systematic disenfranchisement of our citizens… oh yeah, caging lists, felon databases, defective equipment, and long waits at the polls are already doing that. And we do have representation in Congress… though our representatives are shut out of power to an unprecedented degree by the GOP caucus unless they kow-tow and support the majority’s policies meekly. But no one is trying to remake our society into somethig radically different without the consent of all the people… except proclaiming they will establish the Christian religion or found a theocratic state.

Yes, there is tyranny in today’s America. The political majority (which doesn’t even represent the demographic majority) is plainly ruling without regard to the opinions of the minority, and seeking to remake our society and government without our assent. But tyrrants always fall. Resistance to them is a cultural tradition for Americans. As you listen to Jack Kennedy recite those immortal words, know that the tyrrany we now face daily shall also pass.