Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence – Congress voted to approve independence by passing the Lee Resolution on July 2 and adopted the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4 1776 – the resolution basically declared the original colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.

In 1870, Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees – in 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.

What exactly are we celebrating? The evolving colonies collectively agreed their relationship with Britain was not good for its people – so they drafted, signed and approved the “The Declaration of Independence” which states:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Basically, Britain and King George III were a problem for these evolving new and banding colonies because the colonies believed:

“…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”

And to this end (everyone is, or would eventually be equal), so it further states:

“…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness…”

And, as needed, the people can alter the course/actions of government (Britain’s Govt in this case):

“…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their (the people’s) right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…”

Then the authors went on to list infractions (27 infractions, depending on how we read the original document) imposed on the colonies – the document then goes on to say:

“…In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury…”

And:

“…We have warned them (Britain) from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us…”

All that being said:

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled…   …these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolve…”

No doubt a worthy event to be celebrated each year – in this case, a people group was being oppressed, unjustly treated, and marginalized by tyrannical government – clearly a bold and noble cause well-intentioned for the good of the people – one might even say, efforts of this nature should be protected, sustained and maintained, however… (hold my beer)

…the people group in this celebrated document only referred to, and protected, and spoke for were property/land owners, mostly White men of the colonies – our nation would then embark on a 250+ yearlong ongoing effort to actually apply these declared independencies to all people groups that find their way into our borders – meaning, a Constitution with many amendments to clarify, define, and outline the gist of “freedom, liberty and justice of all” (which turned out to be a moving target) – plus many new and evolving laws, resolutions, regulations, and statues addressing the historical game of legal whack-a-mole as unequal, unjust, and immoral behavior repeatedly raised it’s well funded self-indulging ugly heads throughout a rapidly changing new world.

To be fair we’ve really struggled at every turn in this challenging generational process to provide freedom, liberty, and justice for all – we’ve also made great gains subduing oppressive behaviors and protecting the oppressed – in all our challenges and gains, there are three things that are consistently true:

1. Every gain we achieve on the path of enforcing the constitutional principles of this nation will have significant cost associated with it – there will be pain, suffering, blood spilt, and high monetary/financial costs – freedom, even freedom in “the land of the free” is not free.

2. What is written in our constitution and our laws has no value if we (as a nation) fail to enforce what is written – failing to enforce our professed values, beliefs, and principles makes us all out to be hypocrites and liars – just like in 1776, it’s up to us to step up, stand up and speak out against oppression, injustice, and marginalized practices.

3. “We the people” are tasked with the responsibility to drive, enforce, and reinforce these evolving much needed changes to standardize, apply, and sustain freedom, liberty, and justice for all.

It truly must be freedom, liberty, and justice FOR ALL – not just for some, or for political perspectives, or the wealthy, or the connected, or certain races, religions, belief, or sexual orientations – freedom for all has significant and specific meanings.

“Freedom” means: The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint – absence of subjection to oppression or despotic government – the state of not being unjustly restrained or imprisoned, or laid subject to injustice.

“All” means: Used to refer to the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing – completeness in number or participants – totality of a subject of persons or things.

“Freedom for all” means:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

“Freedom for all” also means: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Plus the remaining 27 constitutional amendments

“Freedom for all” also means: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Yes, we should celebrate Independence Day – we should also never stop working toward the totality and completeness of this critical national concept – that’s who we claim to be, that’s who we should be.  

Happy Independence Day!

Christian, please don’t pass me by “as you go and make disciples.”

Somehow, I was in ‘your’ path as you went along your way, perhaps we met by dumb luck, or maybe a little grace. All I know is chaos, and that strange light from your face.

We are strangers to each other, this will not be easy for you. So, buckle up Believer this will take more effort than you ever knew.

Christian, please to don’t look at us that way, and step awkwardly around the children. That light from your face now seems labored, as you learn about our burdens.

Christian, please don’t judge me so harshly, my sins are many and I know I am to blame. So, pounding blame into my chest solves nothing, and only causes shame.

Christian, you speak of grace and love, and some power from above. But remember, your actions and your face are all I know of things you speak of.

Have my sins disqualified me from “the least of these?” Then condemn and punish me as you wish. But please, spare the children. Is there light left in your face for the children? Surly your God’s love can be shared with the children, even if I’m the guilty one.

Christian, please don’t pass the children by. They are victims even more than you and I. Please don’t leave the children to some social service systems that you don’t even believe in, vote for, or support.

Christian, the children need a home in a house. Please don’t confuse a house with that of your boathouse, lake house, beach house, vacation house, or second house. The children don’t have ANY house.

Christian, please don’t make me beg, unless begging is what it takes to see that light renewed upon your face. Remember, your actions and your face, Are all I know of your faith.

Christian, please don’t pass me by (again)…

What’s driving continuous waves of migrates at our southern border – what’s the motivator, the power, or the physical dynamics pushing this serge…

…it is NOT US policy (Title 42 or otherwise),

…it is NOT Republicans or Democrats,

…it is NOT criminal import/export of drugs/weapons/sex trafficked (these are capitalizing on the serge),

…it is NOT a covert effort to skew voting populations one way or another,

…it is NOT lazy foreigners trying to get free stuff.

What’s driving continuous waves of migrates at our southern border…

…it is desperation, hunger, fear, and crisis fueled peoples “yearning to breathe free” – I pray that our nation that has so much wealth, capabilities, and resources will get over our layers of self-induced misinformation and noise…

…to see the people,

…to see the children,

…to see the families,

…to see the humans who are so tired, poor, abused, unhoused, and threatened – they are scratching and crawling forward for any chance for freedom, safety, liberty, or a flicker of hope for basic human rights – their effort, in the face of their plight is so much more than what many of us will ever do for ourselves for so much less – seriously, who are we to turn our backs on them?

Yes! Of course, there are smugglers, criminals, drugs, weapons, and sex traffickers laced in this humanitarian crisis – we should not be appalled – we all know every aspect of our fat and happy nation is dripping with crime, corruption, and abuse of wealth/resources – just look at both major political parties (at the local-state-federal levels), industry, insider financial investing/markets, profit margins, govt contracting, etc., etc. – we cannot deny our nation has always been rich with wicked vines ripe with motives that fuel the criminal behavior we claim migrates are bringing.      

Let’s be honest with ourselves, as we rage against these migrates – not all, but most of us were born here with a free ticket for most every American ride – and to be very clear, most of my readers are pretty well off – meaning, we’ve worked – we’ve built a life – we’ve paid our dues – but we paid at a rate of citizenship status in a nation which automatically provided a position, economy, and condition custom built for our flavor of existence (how very lucky for us) – one might even say, we got a ‘discount rate’ compared to what most of the world has to do to get where we are today.

Now don’t freak out – don’t get emotional – remember, all we had to do was be born here – most of us did not have to: walk thousands of miles with our lives/children on our backs – go hungry for days, or weeks – experience sustained threats against our lives, and the lives of our families – flee to avoid abuse, unemployment, corruption, kidnapping, gang violence, etc – leave our families, friends and homes behind – endure harsh continuous months/years of physical, emotional, and psychological suffering – to say the least.

I don’t make this point to deny any of us the existence we’ve carved out – good on us for making a place for ourselves and our families in this world (Hooray!) – I make the point because the two playing fields (us verses the migrants) are so horrifically different, unlevel, contrasting that it begs for us to have some degree of compassion – maybe provide a little care – or allow a bit of unearned grace – perhaps pitch in anything to help…  

Which reminds me… isn’t that what our well-funded affluent religions teach us?

Take care America, as our panicked efforts to restrict, inhibit, withhold the luxuries and amenities of this great land come to a head in the face of a humanitarian crisis – because the world is watching – the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are watching – the “have nots” are watching – God is watching.

Who are we to be so tightfisted with so much that we did not (really) earn?

This is not a political issue…

This is a human issue.

This is just something to think about….

Religious groups do not have to agree with person’s life styes we don’t approve of – but we do have to afford those persons human decency, fair and equal treatment – in fact, that’s constitutional law and that’s what Jesus would do… 

To that point – imagine Jesus indignantly berating the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well for a lifestyle He did not approve of – yet we do it all the time.

Thank God we don’t experience unjust, violent, and unequal treatment for the foolish, selfish, and crazy lives we live (mostly in the dark) – after all, we profess ourselves to be holy, humble, and worthy of exceptional status.

What is so challenging about treating people humanely, fairly, and equally?  

Is it our belief to berate these people?

Or is it some twisted interpretation of our beliefs?

Then (oddly enough) our disdain for these people spills over onto products that happen to support humane, fair, and equal treatment of said people – leading us to feel motivated to berate not only the people, but also the products.

Perhaps we didn’t think this through – if that’s really the case, we may need to prepare ourselves to make drastic changes to our purchasing habits – here we go:

Religious beliefs aside, in addition to Bub Lite, here’s a list of 125+ of the top 1000 companies that affirm and support equitable nonviolent treatment of persons of lifestyles that regularly receive unjust unequal treatment from religious groups. 

Adobe – Accenture – AIG – Airbnb – Akamai – Amazon – American Airlines – American Family Insurance – Aon – Apple – Assurant – AT&T – Atlassian – Balenciaga – Booz Allen Hamilton – Boston Scientific – Box – Bridgewater – Cadillac – Capital Group – Cardinal Health – CarGurus – CarMax – CBRE – CGI – Cigna – Cimpress – Citizens Bank – Coco-Cola – Conduent – Converse – Corning – CrowdStrike – Cushman & Wakefield – CVS Health – Discover Financial Services – DoorDash – Dropbox – E. & J. Gallo Winery – Electronic Arts – EA – Elevance Health – Emerson – Epsilon – EY – Ernst & Young – Experian – Fiat-Chrysler – First American – Ford – Dr Martens – Google – GMC – Grainger – Guidehouse – The Hartford – Hershey Company – Happy Socks – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – HMH – HP – Humana – IGT – IBM – International Game Technology – Ikea – Impossible Foods – Instacart – Intuit – Iron Mountain – JEEP – Kelly – Levi – Liberty Mutual – Lincoln Financial Group – Lowe’s – Lumen Technologies – Lyft – Land O’Lakes – Lego – Mattel – McKesson Corporation – Meijer – Mercedes-Benz – MetLife – Michael Page – Microsoft – New York Life – NTT Data – Ols Navy – NYX Professional Make Up – Oracle – PayPal –  Pet Smart – Pinterest – Pitney Bowes – PNC – PricewaterhouseCoopers – Progressive – Prudential – Publicis Sapient – Ralph Lauren – Randstad – RingCentral – Robert Half – International – Sanofi – SAP – Saturn – ServiceNow – Skittles – Splunk – Spotify – The Standard – StanCorp Financial Group – Synchrony Financial – Target – TE Connectivity – Tesla – Thermo Fisher Scientific – TGI Fridays – Transamerica – TransUnion – Toyota – Twitter – Uber – U.S. Bank – Under Armour – UnitedHealth Group – UPMC Health Plan – Upwork – Vans – Venture For America – VW – Verizon – Viacom – Visa – VMware – Vox Media – Voya Financial – Warner Music Group – Wayfair – Wells Fargo – Yelp – Zendesk – Zillow – Zimmer Biomet – etc., etc…

This is simple math – the rhythm of our regular everyday lives already supports these companies/products, who support lifestyles that religious groups tend to treat harshly – interestingly, these companies don’t always agree or disagree with our beliefs, but they do choose to treat people humanely, fairly, and equally – kind of a weird oxymoron, right?  These companies and products are doing a better job of applying this part of our beliefs than we do… (weird huh?).

So, if we’re really dropping Bud Lite (for example) what else do we need to drop?

Or is it smarter, more constitutional, and (for the win) Biblical to just be kind?

Humane, just, and equal treatment of others (regardless of lifestyle) doesn’t compromise our beliefs – in fact, it amplifies our beliefs.

This is just something to think about…. Or we can keep spending our money buying Bud Lite so we can waste it and post it on social media – not really genius, but it’s a free country (for some of us). 

Some quotes endure history much better than others:

 “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.” (Winston Churchill)

Here we go (as expected) proverbially defiantly arrogantly throwing everything imaginable against the walls of our Politics-Courts-Media-News-Justice Systems, Schools, Laws, Religions, Government, etc… – all the while expecting our own unique splattered flavors to be the only ones that stick.

Deeper into the “I, me, my” mentality we go – damn everything, or anyone else – just accommodate me, and those like me.

As it turns out, we’re slowly discovering that will never work – we could never really carve out an ideal existence for just some of us – we must consider all of us – we must always think, plan, and apply the principles of this nation equally to all of us – anything less (as predicted) will fail.

We are the national level illustration of “rinse and repeat.”

I pray for the day that this nation, that professes “…liberty and justice for all” will turn the corner, and actually be that nation.

This?

This is the hill we die on?

This is the sword we fall on?

The grand old party – keeper of law and order, fiscal responsibility, moral majority, and (self-proclaimed) values has lost its collective minds over this one (of more to come) indictment against Trump.

The GOP has trashed everything conservative govt claims to stand for to defend Trump over this (initial) indictment.

All this grandstanding in the shadow of the many crooked roads that lead us to the hot mess we’re in today – the worst evidence against Trump, is Trump himself – disregard any other witness, evidence, or proof of probable cause, suspicion, or guilt – consider only Trump’s actions, associates, schemes, and endeavors.

Trump’s tens of thousands of (on the record) comments, social media posts, lies, flip flopping, and endless chest thumping documenting his own lifelong trail of corruption, hate, abuse, ineptness, narcissism, etc., etc…

Trump’s very public history of tax fraud and abuses – not allegations, his actual tax records.

Trump’s businesses hiding behind a shiny gold façade trying hard to hide layers of settled or lost lawsuits, failed startups, defaulted loans, cheated charities, criminalized education institutes, employee abuse, money laundering, international financial fraud, etc., etc…

Dozens of Trump’s lawyers, investors/bankers, and financial advisors indicted, plead or found guilty, convicted, disbarred, lost licenses, jailed, ruined, testified against Trump, wrote books against Trump, stand up against Trump even today.

More than fifty Trump govt/campaign appointments, cabinet positions, staffers, govt agency heads/members, and federal judge placements under investigation(s), indicted, plead or found guilty, convicted, jailed, ruined, testified against Trump, wrote books against Trump, stand up against Trump even today.

Leaders from many of our international allies have called out Trump for his false statements, compromised governance – and his disregard for the rule of law, welfare of nations and people groups, and failed international military actions.

Hundreds of churches and church leaders have compromised their own basic beliefs and theology for the sole purpose of bending the knee to Trump – so they can leverage some political or judicial gain at the cost of their own religious values – many of these Pharisees and Sadducees have already been called out and denounced by their followers.

Trump’s 18 month (and counting) ‘secret/top secret’ document debacle – layers of lies and false representation of the facts – total disregard for the importance, adherence, and application of the authority surrounding the processes these documents are subject to.

Trump’s grotesque disdain for our basic laws, legal and court systems (unless they rule on his behalf) reflects the ease which he moves into abuse, manipulation, or corruption of these systems regardless of the fallout – he does not care who (or what) gets hurt for his gain or protection.

We need look no further than Trump himself – he is the absolute poster child for ‘The Emperor Has No Clothes’ – the only fool greater than Trump, is anyone who still defends him – and political motives DO NOT justify the insanity of this behavior.

At the end of the day (this first indictment), Trump cheated on his wife many times (according to him) which included a porn star – this porn star blackmailed Trump (according to him) – Trump paid his lawyer to pay her off (according to him) and illegally documented the pay off as something other than a payoff (an error on his part, according to him) – all with the intent to hide his behavior for the sake of the 2016 presidential election –  yep, that’s full blown criminal behavior – cut and dry – yet, this is the hill the GOP feels it needs to die on – of all the important national and international governance issues that beg for the attention of our govt, this is the sword we want to fall on.

Seriously?

And the GOP wonders why so many conservative voters are turning our backs on the circus they’ve become.

Unhitch yourselves from this Trump laced hypocrisy – stop standing up for impossible things that any 8-year-old can see is wrong – get back to real work!

What’s our (real) role in life?

Our role in life (real or otherwise) could be illustrated by our behavior – by our attitude toward ourselves and others – and by what we do with our time, resources and what we give our attention to.

There is an explosion of voices and narratives aggressively courting us concerning many different mindsets, agendas, and culture subgroups – sadly, most of these directions are purposely divisive and condemning of the opposite voice – so called, good verses evil – left verses right – Christian verses non-Christian – one social/news media verses another – conservative verses moderate verses progressive verses liberal, and so on, and so on…. its maddening to say the least.

Somehow, we’ve been led to believe that we must pick sides – then condemn and denounce the opposite side – furthermore, we can earn accolades (clicks-likes-followers) the more visceral and harmful we become toward the ‘enemy’ (the opposite narrative) – this quickly becomes an escalating, rinse and repeat agitating exercise that perpetuates more harm, divisiveness, and condemnation of each other.

It’s like we’ve evolved into a real life amped up horrific version of the 1961 Dr Seuss children’s book, “The Sneetches” – compartmentalizing ourselves deeper and deeper into dividedness – while Sylvester McMonkey McBean (there are so many real life versions of this guy on both sides) spins the narratives more and more into aggressive agitated states of ‘us verses them’ – and like the Sneetches, we let one side of our human nature, fear, and falsely defined acceptable levels of tolerance rule us into the chaos we find ourselves in today.

Also like the Sneetches, we know better – deep down, we know this is a bad direction for ourself and our nation – we know our human nature has two (or more) sides – we know we can do and be better – we see in the book, the Sneetches eventually learned that Sneetches are Sneetches – why is it so hard for us to learn that humans are humans?

I believe in the silence of our personal space, in the safety of our carved-out existence…  we know we are meant for more than roles that produce divisive and condemning behavior – we know this if we’re being honest with ourselves.

Here’s a clue – if we find ourselves subcategorizing people or people groups by politics, religion, media, race, income, nationality, geographic location, etc., etc… which eventually leads us to losing sight of their humanity for the sake of one of these negative agendas – then we can rest assured, that we’ve compromised our (real) role in this life.

There are so many things we can do with our time, resources, and attention – perhaps our (real) role is to apply our time, resources, and attention to…

…anything that does not oppress or condemn others.

…improving our lives, and the lives of others.

…encouraging others to be less negative.

…caring for oneself, and others.

…maybe, don’t be a jerk.

…or be kind.

We all have a moral compass – we all have a driving force that should guide us away from negative behavior – for some it’s basic morality, spirituality, humanitarian, or a sense of a greater good – for me, it’s my Christian faith – truth be told, it’s not easy to leverage our moral compass flavored nature in the face of our demanding selfish and fearful nature – but we have to find the strength, because that is truly our REAL role in this life.

At the end of the day, regardless of politics, religion, media, race, income, nationality, appearances, economics, geographic location, etc… we must see humans as humans – because humans really are humans, regardless of the false narratives pulling at us daily.

God will sort out any subcultures relevant to Him or His will – it’s His role to judge, not ours – our role is to make good use of our time, resources, and things we give our attention to.

Sneetches are Sneetches, and humans are humans.