The “4th of July” is not a holiday. Any more than is the “5th of July.” Those are dates on the calendar. The holiday we celebrate which falls on the fourth day of every July is America’s “Independence Day.” “Independence Day” is the holiday, yet over the years we’ve become conditioned to drop the name and instead refer to the date. Why?
We say “happy fourth!” as if “the fourth” is a holiday without really thinking much about it. Is it small? Yes. Is it subtle? No question. But is it petty? Absolutely not.
We live in a nation wherein our (previous) leadership changed the Oath of Allegiance that legal immigrants to our nation must take so as to exclude the former requirement to pledge to defend America. For eight of the past eight and a half years our government apologized for our nation’s behavior and called America “arrogant.” America, a nation responsible for bringing freedom and liberty to untold, innumerable millions all around the globe and having done so at the cost of our own blood.
What do we now see playing out on the streets of our nation? Millions of Americans view our sense of national pride as foolishness and our acknowledgement of American exceptionalism as a delusion of imperialistic grandeur and eight years of leadership by those of a like mind have emboldened them.Antifa punks, BLM haters, pussy-hat wearing feminists and others make a mockery of and burn our flag, hold signs declaring “America Was Never Great” and view our nation not as the solution to but the source of the world’s problems. Both today and historically.
These and other America-hating globalists would love to see certain memories fade, certain attitudes destroyed, certain practices and pillars of nationalistic pride torn down. Practices such as standing hand-over-heart for the national anthem prior to sporting events and such as the celebration of America’s Independence and subsequent rise to become the greatest superpower in the history of planet earth.
They’d love to see us forevermore say and celebrate “the 4th of July” with as little or no reference to exactly what we’re celebrating on that date as possible. To let it be all about hotdogs and fireworks. They’re putting great effort into having the words and memories scrubbed from history books, not taught in schools, dropped from the public conscience. In these efforts they are in many ways succeeding.Not on my watch.
As Jack Nicholson’s character Marine Colonel Nathan Jessup said in his iconic rant during the courtroom scene of A Few Good Men, “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the very blanket of the freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it!” Sorry punks, but we will not go quietly into that good night. We will rage against the tearing down of our national traditions with our dying breath if necessary. Including the celebration of America’s independence!
I’d like to challenge you patriots this year (and every year hereafter) to begin referring to this holiday by its correct name; “Independence Day.”Many men and women, better than you or me, sacrificed their all to gain this nation’s independence from the crown. Let’s honor their memory and the glorious gift of liberty they’ve bestowed upon us, a gift that’s still giving some 241 years later, by referring to this upcoming holiday by its proper name: America’s Independence Day!
After all, we don’t say “Merry 25th of December.”
[Note: This article was written by Derrick Wilburn]
