Happy Independence Day Indeed

Well, so it's July 5, and yesterday at the end of the day Blogger decided not to cooperate with my Independence Day wishes. Anyway, my kids and I spent the entire day in the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg, which as you might imagine was bustling with feverish excitement about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Some of it was good, and some of it was bad. Patrick Henry, Virginia's new Governor, repeated his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech -- which only garnered FIVE VOTES at the time he first gave it at a session of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Benedict Arnold was all over town, continuously insulting all of the colonists for their foolishness. Today we missed visits by General Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but we did hang out in a good many of the places they did when they walked the same paths here in town.

They had a lot on their minds, as did the divided citizens of the colonies. Not to put too fine a point on it, the Colonies had fairly little in their favor.

1) We manufacture none of our own goods.

2) We have no navy or army.

3) If we are executed, our children and widows get nothing.

So the declaration of independence really was an incredible act of high treason that could have, and should have, sent everyone to the gallows.

It's amazing, really, that it didn't. The men who declared independence as representatives of their freeholders did it pretty much on a wing and a prayer. And they won.

We need that again. We need to turn the current administration's world upside down. We need to shake loose these chains of willful ignorance and nearly obscene leisure to take back our country, which was founded by men and women who really were ready to give up their lives for it.

This tune is reputed to have been played by the surrendering British troops under Cornwallis at Yorktown. It's called The World Turned Upside Down, and is sometimes called When The King Enjoys His Own Again. This morning the colonies delegates names were read and each flag was presented. With each presentation came a tune played by Williamsburg's famous Fife and Drum Corps.

When The King Enjoys His Own Again/The World Turned Upside Down