Wishes for Independence Day

Paul Krugman has a very special salute for Americans still holding on to the dream of constitutional government (in our first and only republic (so far)) and individual liberty.

Today’s America is a place where everyone claims to support equality of opportunity, yet we are, objectively, the most class-ridden nation in the Western world — the country where children of the wealthy are most likely to inherit their parents’ status. It’s also a place where everyone celebrates the right to vote, yet many politicians work hard to disenfranchise the poor and nonwhite.

But that very hypocrisy is, in a way, a good sign. The wealthy may defend their privileges, but given the temper of America, they have to pretend that they’re doing no such thing. The block-the-vote people know what they’re doing, but they also know that they mustn’t say it in so many words. In effect, both groups know that the nation will view them as un-American unless they pay at least lip service to democratic ideals — and in that fact lies the hope of redemption.

So, yes, we are still, in a deep sense, the nation that declared independence and, more important, declared that all men have rights. Let’s all raise our hot dogs in salute.

One of my favorite sources of great information and a great American, Mark Crispin Miller, has released a compelling list of wishes for Independence Day weekend from Josh Ozersky that are surely attainable again.

Mark Crispin Miller

From Josh Ozersky:

Here’s what I want from Independence Day:

• I would like to live in America again.
• I would like fair and lawful elections, recorded by traceable paper ballots.
• I would like the laws, whatever they are and however unfair, enforced rigorously and equally.
• I would like the Fourth through Ninth Amendments back.
• I would like to see everyone pay their taxes.
• I would like a free, fighting press.
• I would like to see our prison system run by the states,instead of being outsourced as a profit center by God knows who.
• I would like to keep our mountains from being blown up, and our public lands closed to private development.
• I would like a universal draft, and a rational military budget.
• I would like an open broadcast spectrum and the purging of crackpots from the state and federal government, including the Supreme Court.

But I would settle for the laws being enforced rigorously and equally.

Now there's a worthwhile "Ditto!"