This post is bloody late, but unbowed.

All heathen children aside, I'm actually kind of fond of this country. We don't do everything right. We actually don't do a *lot* of things right (according to me), but this is still the greatest country on Earth. I hope it stays that way for a very, very long time.

I wanted to get all patriotic for the Fourth, but didn't get around to it. I'm not patriotic by nature; I've got this streak of dark, wary, cynical Eastern European humour that's been genetically bred into me as a result of generations of genes adapting to their environment, perhaps. And this cynicism makes me fear Papa Government, but do it whilst laughing because he's probably going to get us all anyway. Papa Government can do evil, evil things if left unchecked. Papa Government is to be feared.

We've got myriad problems here; each half of the country thinks the other half are fanatical idiots, and sometimes it seems as if both halves hate the government for transparently selfish reasons. We ignore the weak and sick, and laud the rich and powerful. If you cup your hand to your ear, you can hear our collective reading level dropping by the second. In this country, people who want to work can't, and people that don't want to work are subsidised. Animals starve to death and waste away from disease here every day--but what's more alarming is that humans do, too. In this Land of Plenty.

The greatest injustice and discrimination in this country today is not based on gender, race, religion, sexuality, or ideology--it's economic. And it's the Snuffleupagus of the -isms; it's not being addressed quickly enough because many don't think it's The Big One. Or sometimes that it even exists. We get distracted by shinier, sexier prejudices that are easier to point at and say, "come see the violence inherent in the system!"

But, economic bonds aside, we are free. If a sufficient number of people invest themselves in a cause, they actually can change the way that things are done here. We can turn all of this around at any moment. And there's no despot that needs to be unseated, no revolutionary bloodshed that has to be endured. All of that has already been done. We actually can get pretty far by using reason. By talking to the other side. Through compromise. And no one has to get thrown in prison for being a dissident, no one gets diagnosed with "sluggishly progressing schizophrenia", and no one get executed by firing squad because they say that Papa Government is to be feared.

This is a cool country. We've done the best we can. Even the wrong things that have been--and are being--done stem from the right reasons. We care. We think we're right. We believe it with the courage of our convictions--and over and over we've proven that we will sacrifice our fathers, sons, and brothers because we--collectively--believe that we are Right. As peculiarly as it may manifest itself sometimes, this country has always allied itself with freedom and liberty. And in this country, even the ones who disagree do so with civility. That is to be admired. As annoying and outrageous as some self-proclaimed "pundits" and "public intellectuals" may be sometimes, it should be acknowledged that they spoil us--they behave civilly. We have no coup attempts, no bombings, no raids. None of us live in fear of being arrested for what we have said; we will not lose our jobs and homes for what we have written against Papa Government. We have the potential to do *anything*, both individually, and as a country. And that is a great and awesome thing.

For all of my griping, I do love this country. There are more benefits and advantages here than anywhere else in the world. There is so much that needs to be changed--but if it's going to change anywhere, it has the best chance of changing here. And even though it happened a long time ago, I'm sure that those that made it happen were no different from us. They weren't necessarily smarter, or more disciplined, or more politically savvy. They just believed that Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness were worth fighting for before it became a popular idea. And they made a very cool country. The coolest.

Or, possibly, we're all inmates in the largest psikhushka ever conceived, and we all have sluggishly progressing schizophrenia. I guess it could happen.

Ok, ok...I can tamp it down for a bit, but I can't control it forever. Geez. :-)