Here We Go Again

So here we are again, a month before the Big Day. I had forgotten about it, but while perusing some homemaking blogs I found Fourth of July project articles. Already. Ugh.

I don't celebrate the Fourth of July. There's nothing to celebrate. We are under siege by an increasingly fascist government. I didn't really celebrate the Fourth before Trump was elected either. The U.S.A isn't something to be proud of. It really isn't. 

I love my country. I don't love my government. The flag represents my government. The country is just land and people. And truly, land doesn't belong to anyone, and people are free agents. To be a patriot is to love the land of your birth and the people who dwell in it. Nationalism says on the other hand, "my nation/culture is the most perfect nation/culture and all other nations and cultures are not only worthless but dangerous." 

And what people today know as patriotism is actually nationalism, thanks to 9/11 and Toby Keith. "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way." Yep, sounds about right.

By religiously upholding such nationalism, Americans are placing themselves at the mercy of fascist overlords. I am serious. Look up what the atmosphere in Germany was like just before Hitler.

I will not celebrate Independence Day. You can't make me. It just doesn't mean what it should. We aren't celebrating our independence from the British Empire, we're celebrating the Empire we've become. And it didn't take us long to get there.