JULY 4TH 2007 INDEPENDENCE DAY

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What does Independence Day mean to you?

Independence Day marks the day when a group of "Traitors to the Crown" decided to take over the country and turn their backs on the acknowledged government (The Crown of England).

This group dared to declare that they had the right to pursue their own lives as individuals and decide who should govern them. This was unheard of in those days. People were subjects to the government. The people supported the government and the government made the decisions how the people should live, what taxes they should pay for the privilege of being governed, and what limits the people should live within.

Any government wishes to control outcomes. The government, by its very nature, wishes some sort of order and must have the support of its people in the way of funding and obedience to a set of rules. In the US the rules are not really made by the people but by the representatives the people elect. There are methods of direct intervention by the people and these methods are referred to as "grass roots" movements.

The government of the US may be overthrown or deeply impacted at two year intervals. The election process in the US allows "revolution" in the ballot box. The people can elect or re elect their government. Here lies the rub. The US was built on the premise that all people would take an interest in the government. The education of the population was required and aided by the public school system. An educated population was empowered to make decisions for itself collectively and as individuals. The right to vote was restricted to those who could read and write however there was a system to teach them how to do just that called the Public School System. Unfortunately that rule was abolished. Now there are people voting who have no idea what they are voting for. They vote only based on popularity rather than real issues.

Over time the population has taken less interest and certain powerful organizations have taken a large portion of control by filtering information from the public and making the decisions as to who will be available to govern. Part of this is due to the population's lack of interest in the "system". For the system to work as designed all the people of the US must take interest in who is elected to govern. Over time the public school system has lost its effectiveness because of classroom discipline issues. The rights of the individual have taken precedence over common sense. The minority of students who prefer to disrupt class are allowed to prevent the majority from obtaining the maximum benefit from the educational process. This leads to more and more people getting less and less value from their education.

It appears time for the people to wake up and realize the power they actually have. It is time for grass roots action. Unfortunately, the population is so vast with so many interests it would be almost impossible to get all of US on the "same page". Our diversity is part of the issue.

Our diversity has been our strength and our curse since the beginning. We have always been able to rally around the flag when the enemy knocks at our door. In the times of trouble our common enemy drew US together. In WWII the Japanese Americans were incarcerated but still wanted to serve in the military so were sent to the German Front. The black population also wanted to help so they were sent to their "own" army as segregation was still going on at the time. Diversity has caused us to separate into separate cultures within our borders.

On Independence Day, we are all one people and there is no diversity in our desire for individual freedoms nor is there diversity in our wish to preserve democracy. On that day we all can have a common desire to celebrate our opportunities here and to remember that freedom is not nor will it ever come without cost. FREEDOM IS NOT FREE We have to work for it and some have and will die for it.

kat