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.
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Adam L Silverman
Check back in an hour to see what happens next…
SiubhanDuinne
One of my favourite things to do on July 4th is to listen to familiar NPR voices — hosts and reporters and a few former superstars like Susan Stamberg — read the Declaration of Independence aloud. They’ve done this every year for over three decades, and I don’t think I’ve missed it more than a couple of times. Link takes you to this year’s reading, which includes audio, full text, and identification of the readers.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: I believe the Revolutionary War happens next, Adam.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I believe the Revolutionary War had already been underway for 14-1/2 months by the time of the Declaration.
schrodingers_cat
Happy 4th, I am celebrating the first year anniversary of making it official with the United States!
There will be corn on the cob and lobster to celebrate.
ETA: Exactly a year ago, I surrendered my green card, danced with Uncle Sam, swore an oath of allegiance and became a freshly minted United States citizen on the village green of Old Sturbridge Village. I am sending Alain photos of the same.
Mike in DC
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yep. 1775 to 1783, as I recall. Then the Articles of Confederation, followed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Marcopolo
“In order to form a more perfect union…”
I realize that is the preamble to the Constitution and not the Declaration but those are the words I always come back to. And my god we still have so much work to do to get there. So while I will be off celebrating today’s history with good friends later today, I will be keeping in mind all the hard work that has gone before, is happening right now, & will go on after I am around in actualizing those eight words.
And there was this president who gave a speech in 2012 with the title “A More Perfect Union” and I think it is a wonderful speech to listen to on the 4th of July. With where we are now 6 short years later Obama’s words might come across sounding naive but I take the position they are just fiercely optimistic.
I’ll also give the Gettysburg Address a read, which is always a pleasure since of course it is a lot lot shorter :).
Have a lovely 4th all you jackals!
HeleninEire
There’s a pub here offering free whiskey for any American who shows their passport.
On my way.
Cheryl Rofer
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: It was fun to hear it being read aloud by renactors wearing period costume after we became citizens last year.
Elizabelle
OT, but good news: Conservative columnist Max Boot uses July 4th to declare his independence from the Republican party. Unequivocally.
WaPost. Max Boot: I left the Republican Party. Now I want Democrats to take over.
Unlike George Will, he does not feel the need to denigrate the Democratic party. He says not one unkind thing about them. (Actually, they are not mentioned at all, until the penultimate sentence.) Take it away, Max.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Congratulations! What a great way to celebrate the 4th every year. We are lucky to have you as a fellow citizen!
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Oh, neat!
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
Congratulations, again. Glad you’re here.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Glad to have you as a citizen?????
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodingers_cat: Once again, congratulations and thank you for making this a better place with your citizenship!
Viva BrisVegas
@SiubhanDuinne:
The list of grievances in the Declaration comes across a bit whiny and self serving to an outsider. Kind of like a bitter divorce document.
Still, it mostly turned out well in the end.
Congratulations on your country, but dump Trump.
oldster
typo in the OP:
“to dissolve the political bands”
should be
“to dissolve the political bonds”
Jefferson didn’t break up the band until after the fourth album (which was already a steep let-down from the third).
Then there was that embarrassing “Starship” period, but the less said about that the better.
HeleninEire
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations!!!! Good on ya’
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: I’ll reprise my post from dead thread to say Congrats an Happy Anniversary. So glad you are here.
schrodingers_cat
@Viva BrisVegas: We complain, therefore we are. It is uncanny how many of the original complaints can be made against the current occupant of the WH.
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle: The error in Boot’s take is that the GOP has been on the road to Trumpism since Nixon. Consciously and with malice aforethought. Reagan and Bush were just waystations on the road to white nationalism…the seeds were obvious then, even moreso than Nixon’s reign. They’ve relied on white fear for their power for fifty fucking years, and I’ve seen it happen before my very eyes.
BTW, apparently Donald the Dotard has suggested that the US should invade Venezuela. This motherfucker needs to be removed from office at once.
schrodingers_cat
@Villago Delenda Est: He can lead the charge like kings of yore. He can use an elephant like old Indian (from India) kings did, because no horse should be subject to that behind.
A Ghost To Most
@Elizabelle:
Who are you, and what have you done with Max Boot?
@schrodingers_cat: A certain amount of buyers remorse would be understandable.
MazeDancer
The Declaration is a brilliant treatise on the psychology of change. How people will put up with all kinds of abuse to avoid leaving a familiar situation. And how, when the abuse grows too terrible, it is not just your right to break free, it is your sacred duty.
Jefferson could be talking about abusive families or relationships as easily as oppressed citizens.
@schrodingers_cat: Happy Anniversary!
schrodingers_cat
@A Ghost To Most: I have lived here longer than any where else, so I knew what I was signing up for. So no remorse.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations on your anniversary. Madame’s citizenship ceremony locale was a bit less romantic, the east hall of the LA Convention Center in DTLA. Then again it made it easy for me and my co-workers to attend.
eclare
@schrodingers_cat: That menu sounds great, have a wonderful day. Your post about becoming a citizen is very moving.
Amir Khalid
I thought this worth posting again:
Big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams
Meet me in a Land of Hope and Dreams
A happy Fourth of July to my American friends.
PST
@schrodingers_cat: Exactly four years ago today, I surrendered my independence and got married. I’d known the girl for almost half a century, so we knew what we were getting into.
A Ghost To Most
The fascists object to the reading on NPR.
Haroldo
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t know if I will be the caboose to this train (I hope not!) but: congratulations.
danielx
What’s all this about respect for the opinions of mankind?
– donald trump
A Ghost To Most
Amir Khalid
@A Ghost To Most:
They just don’t get it, do they?
p.a.
@HeleninEire: There’s a pub here offering free whiskey for any American who shows their passport.
It’s a tarp!
Elizabelle
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, not a single moderate praised. Lincoln, of course, because he was many generations ago. The party of Reagan and McCain.
Max: there were liberal and moderate Republicans, too. Party purged them just as you have purged yourself (allegedly) of the party.
A Ghost To Most
@Amir Khalid:
Wilful ignorance is a helluva drug.
Steeplejack
@A Ghost To Most:
What is this even about? It doesn’t show up in the Twitter feed of Rod Kelly (who seems to be a right-wing nut), although I can’t see “tweets & replies” because I’m not “on” Twitter.
If only there was some way to help readers go directly to the item itself . . .
?BillinGlendaleCA
@A Ghost To Most: It’s pretty easy to confuse Mad King George with Mad King Donald.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
I won’t argue the point with you, but I am willing to cut people some slack for closing their eyes to it. One of the drawbacks of our system is that it forces voters into binary choices, so anyone who genuinely favored a small government/low tax approach because they thought it was the right way to govern was effectively forced to make common cause with racists who wanted to gut the government so it couldn’t help Those People. I know there are some people in the Democratic Party who I don’t particularly care for, but who I have to accept as part of my coalition to hope to get anything done. I feel as if I need to give Republicans who haven’t obviously given themselves over to racism the benefit of the doubt that they’re doing the same.
And, like Boot, I have some respect for those who recognize that the Republican Party has degenerated into a wreck but still feel it’s worth trying to fix from the inside. I think they’re wrong, but again I don’t want to criticize them too harshly, both because I don’t want them to give in and because I can imagine myself in their shoes with my own party.
Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Jesus, I get that. I don’t understand where Kelly’s loopy tweet comes in, or even what it’s supposed to be addressing. Apparently it’s a reply to another tweet, because it doesn’t appear in his “raw” Twitter feed (tweets only, not replies). Some context would have been nice.
So I guess he’s saying that NPR’s reading of the Declaration of Independence is “taxpayer funded partisan advocacy”? Whoop-de-freakin’-do. Nutjobs gotta nut.
stinger
@schrodingers_cat: Thank you.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: MAGAts are utter morons. They know nothing of history or the Constitution, but whine constantly about those things.
Captain C
@schrodingers_cat: How fantastic! That is, both the citizenship and the location. The latter is where my sister got married a couple of years ago. The Sunday brunch there is to die for.
KSinMA
@schrodingers_cat: Happy anniversary!
Steeplejack
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, take away Trump and what do you have left? What policies or programs do the Republicans promote that improve Americans’ lives in the slightest? Cut taxes and shrink government—that’s all they’ve got. Both of which have been shown to be ineffective, at least as implemented by the GOP.
So what is this Republican Party that they’re going to go back to after Trump? It’s just more magical thinking.
James E Powell
@Villago Delenda Est:
This is true, but it is a truth that the entire press/media are heavily invested in suppressing, denying, or ignoring.
It’s infuriating because the development of the RW-GOP has been documented in real time.
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations on the transition, and what a great time and place for the ceremony. Welcome to citizenship. Also, too, thanks for all your comments, I always look forward to reading them.
Miss Bianca
@schrodingers_cat: Good day to you, citizen! (You have to imagine this in my best “Thomas Jefferson Hour” voice).
Villago Delenda Est
@James E Powell:
Hence my nym.
Wipe them out. All of them.
HeleninEire
@p.a.: LOL nope. On my second. Will be sorry tomorrow
The Pale Scot
‘Cause I hav’ to,
Dr. Johnnie Fever BOOOoooooGEeeerrrrrrrss