Let freedom ring

If you look around, blogs both near and far are thinking about Independence Day.

I can't help but wonder if that's one of the reasons more established media pooh-pooh the blog world. We are not to question their patriotism, but they question ours - question patriotism itself. And at the heart of it is an inverted observation -

How can I love my home without coming to realize that other men, no less rightly, love theirs? Once you have realized that the Frenchmen like café complet just as we like bacon and eggs - why, good luck to them and let them have it. The last thing we want is to make everywhere else just like our own home. It would not be home unless it were different.

CS Lewis, as usual, knew what he was talking about. One can't even have the fun of discovery, of trying new things, and then the further joy of familiar comforts at the end, unless one has a home; a place one loves and is thus willing to defend. That's the sticking point.

Since anyone would defend their home, doubters presume that there must be nothing special about their particular home, when in fact there's everything special about it. The first thing is that we're here, not anywhere else, and it's our job to make sure that here remains free. We can make it good only as long as we have the liberty to do so, a liberty secured not only from foreign powers but busybodies and would-be meddlers here.

The founding principle of the United States is this liberty, to improve ourselves and to improve our neighborhoods, and that this liberty is not the gift of men, or the sufference of their rulers. It is inherent to each person.

I'm going to enjoy that inherent freedom with some tasty beverage, grilled foods, and a nice fireworks show.

Powered by Castpost

Happy Fourth!