TAKE BACK THE FOURTH!

 Tomorrow is the 'Glorious' Fourth.
And this year, it feels like anything but. And I know I'm not alone in feeling that way by any means.
I'm also tired of the gleeful meanness of what I call, and invite my readers to call, the 'rule-AND-ruin gang'. No, that's not a misprint. I mean 'rule-and-ruin'. The gang claiming that only they should be the rulers, and if they must share with others, they threaten to ruin the country for all of us. One problem with that is, they ruin the country even worse if and when they are the sole rulers--for all of us except themselves! So them as the only rulers is a lose-lose proposition for the rest of us!
I draw a heavy sigh and imagine what life might be like if we lived somewhere else where people actually treat each other (individually and collectively) more like human beings rather than as enemies. And this is no less true in 'blue' states than in 'red' ones. For me, the Herblock cartoon dated March 12, 1963, still has too dam' much to say in that respect!
Then I think of our down-the-road neighbor (95 miles or so, actually) who has written that she won't let this crowd steal the Fourth, the flag and other patriotic displays from her. She will display the flag tomorrow, and I for one say, more power to you, our own Maggie!
And along with that, I remember a guest column written by a law professor who makes the very cogent point that our side now needs patriotism more than ever. I ponder how spot-on he is. Especially since he points out something I also noticed and mentioned in a post I wrote on July 5 of last year about how actual victims of our system often seem more optimistic about change than do those who seek to make change but have not been victims of the system. Like me.
And then, perhaps aided by my morning shower, I ask myself: why, literally, in God's Name should we let a gang of mean and greedy liars steal our country's very story from us? Why should we concede to them the sole star billing they don't deserve?! If they won't share top billing, that's their problem, not ours. We tell the truth; throw out their evil lies!
And that's the truth. Is Edith-Ann's raspberry necessary here? Maybe.
But here is where we need God as well as country. Our enemies and those of our country exhaust us with their meanness and they know it! That is their intent! To restore and renew ourselves for the l-o-n-g fight ahead of us, and to be able to help revive and renew each other's spirits, we need God's own Spirit. We need to 'tap into' God's Spirit however we can, in whatever way that works for each of us and does no harm to any other sentient life.
Part of this needs to be to discard any worries about not being a Nice Person. We need to tell the whole, unvarnished truth about how our enemies lie and who funds those lies as well! Gloves off; it's bare-knuckle time if ever there was one!
Another part needs to be patient organizing across racial, ethnic and religious lines. Wherever possible, make it so people can discover their own errors and lack of good information for themselves. 'Slapping' people with their misconceptions needs to be a last resort if used at all. This, too, will take time and effort and for this, too, we need the kind of regeneration that can come only from God's Spirit.
But no; let's not give up when the real story of our country involves all of us and many different groups and individuals of different groups all sharing star billing! Our history was made and is still being made by something much more like the Group Theatre rather than the 'star system' of old Hollywood. Let's shout it from the rooftops and challenge those who want to shout us down with questions that will stop them in their tracks! Let's take back the Fourth and all the other days too!