On July 1, what Donald Trump has labeled the Big Beautiful Bill, popularly named the BBB, snatched headlines by passing the Senate and returning to the House for a final vote. Meanwhile, Americans across the country are celebrating our nation’s 249th Big Beautiful Birthday Bash, the BBBB, or the B4 as I like to call it, on Independence Day weekend.
Unlike other national holidays, like Flag Day or Memorial Day, the Fourth of July is a full-on gala celebrating not just the Declaration of Independence, but all things American, from the physical beauty found in places like the Carolina Outer Banks and the Western Rockies to the countless men and women who planted and nurtured the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Our annual B4 of time off from work, backyard cook-outs, concerts, and fireworks rides on the shoulders of these people from our past, muscle and bone built in turn from those ineffable nutrients like hope, faith and courage. Yearning for freedom and opportunity, immigrants came to the New World to make new lives. Sodbusters packed their wagons, headed west, ploughed the earth, and filled a granary that fed the nation. Wilbur and Orville Wright dreamed of flying, and 66 years after their Kitty Hawk experiment, Americans put a man on the moon. A great nexus of farmers, entrepreneurs, truckers and grocers daily brings foods from around the world to our supermarkets.
We are heirs to a rich history that brought us a feast of liberties and wealth, yet as heirs often do, we forget the sweat and blood that produced this banquet. We take it for granted. We forget that our rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not derived from some government and its edicts, but are endowed by a Creator. We forget that certain unalienable rights like freedom of speech and freedom of religion are non-existent in many nations around the globe.
Worst of all, we forget that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” until some intruder, usually the government, shakes us awake. The Covid shutdowns and deceits roused many Americans, waking them to the dangers of an overbearing government. Through its heavy-handed influence, the Biden administration and its supporters attempted to squash free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly, again giving a shout-out to Americans that these fundamentals were under assault.
And just like these mini-dictators, we as individuals sometimes attempt to limit the rights of others. Several conservatives I know, for example, were cut off by family and friends because they supported Donald Trump for president. Instead of recognizing the importance of diversity, so often touted as a virtue by many in our culture, their relatives and acquaintances ostracized and silenced them.
All too often, of course, conservatives do the same. Someone we know and even love lambasts the country or our religious faith, and we react with rage. Our anger may be justified, but we might at least pause and recollect, and perhaps point out to the speaker, that it’s the American way that allows such disagreement in the first place. So, if you’re throwing a backyard B4 this Fourth of July weekend, and that gray-headed leftover from the ‘60s uses fascist as a synonym for conservative, before going on the offensive remind yourself that this calumny is a glorious example of our right to speak our mind.
These founding precepts, along with that dissatisfaction which sparks our constant attempts to improve ourselves, our circumstances, and our country, are the engines which power the American dynamo. A book I recently purchased secondhand, “Our American Heritage,” I found this passage from editor, writer and politician William Allen White:
In no other country in the world is aspiration so definite a part of life as it is in America. The most precious gift God has given to this land is not its riches of soil and forest and land, but the divine discontent planted deeply in the hearts of the American people.
This year, whether we’re spending America’s birthday bash in a park watching some glorious show of fireworks or at home helping the kids light up some sparklers, let’s give a nod of gratitude to our liberties and our aspirations.
Jeff Minick is a father of four and grandfather to many. A former history, literature, and Latin teacher, Jeff now writes prolifically for The Epoch Times, American Essence Magazine, and several other publications.
This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News. To comment on this article, please email [email protected]. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
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