This July 4th, we Can do better

      It is 90 degrees at 10:30 a.m. in Vermont and here comes the 4th of July—Independence Day—and the 250th birthday celebration of our nation’s Independence. With sweaty palms and a very heavy heart, I am taking this moment to let you know that I am really pissed at where this country has ended up after 250 years as the oldest living democracy on the planet. 

      Of course, we get some deserved accolades because many women, people of color, the disabled and the poor have seen great improvements since the days of chains, shackles, whippings, institutionalizations, degradations and extreme poverty. So, let’s give a big shout-out for that. 

      And, while we are at it, let’s recognize the New Deal under FDR that helped make some of those improvements possible and let’s hear it for the women who fought for the right to vote, the right to an education, to own their property and to control their bodies (sort of). My deep admiration goes to so many of us who stepped up for civil rights. And the list goes on throughout our last 250 years as we made huge gains toward a more egalitarian, fair and just society.

      But don’t get me wrong: America has also always been a country of weapons, war, discrimination and income inequality. We are not always what we aspire to be. 

      We were the only country ever to let loose an atomic bomb on humanity. We sell our weapons to the worst human beings doing horrible things to their people. We stick our noses and our tanks into places where we don’t belong. 

      But in my 76 years on this rotating ball of magnificence we call earth, I have never seen the level of corruption, greed, human horror and cruelty that I am witnessing today. I have a bald spot where I have been scratching my head trying to figure out how Americans got us to this place … because I hate where we are as a country right now. I am absolutely horrified, and my time is running out, and I am tired of fighting for all the good that I can muster. 

      So, let me put the blame where I think it belongs: on us. Our people are undereducated and we are manipulated by a right-wing media conglomerate that lies to its viewers. We have a South African racist in charge of our space program who was in charge of dismantling our entire federal government. And we have a truly ignorant and crazed human running the executive branch, not to mention his sycophants in Congress. 

      I’m going to go grab some lemonade and find a tree to sit under to contemplate why my heart is so heavy and why the tears of despair come so often. And then I’m going to get up and get back to fighting for what our founding fathers and mothers fought for: “We the People.” And that’s what we all need to do if we want to leave the next generations a country that aspires to meet the measure of what was written in our Constitution back in 1776.

      So, let's all take a moment now to turn up the volume on the most beautiful battle hymn ever written, by the blessed Bob Marley, and let's dance—"Get Up - Stand Up - Stand up for Your Rights!”