US Independence Day
Today is the day the US celebrates its independence from the UK and its establishment as a constitutional republic. Fuck those British monarchs! Traditionally this celebration involves backyard cookouts and then fireworks after sunset. Somebody somewhere in the US will die from misusing fireworks ... be safe out there ...
For me it is another of those generic federal holidays, but I will work for a while today anyway. We don't earn "credit hours" for working on a paid holiday because we're already being paid for it. Basically I'm donating my time because I'm trying to get caught up on a long-term project, to reduce my own stress level.
It looks like T is on a walk as I wake -- he's nowhere in the house and both of his vehicles are in the driveway. I want to go on a run, but it will feel miserably humid and I'll bring along a bottle of cool water. The AQI is very GREEN this morning!!!
I slept a bunch last night. I made dinner for T after my workday was over, he opened a bottle of wine for it but we didn't drink it all. Then we both went to bed early. I needed to catch up on sleep after having David NYC here. Especially because yesterday morning David woke me around 5am because he was horny.
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In the US our leading symbols of patriotism are the Statue of Liberty, the US flag, and for some reason eagles. Maybe also the Iwo Jima Memorial, although why anybody still cares about the US conquering that 8-square-mile island with no permanent inhabitants ...
Far less beloved by the patriots are our public servants, people like me and T and several of my friends and family -- people who work for the government providing the daily services that educate our kids, respond to emergencies, patrol our borders, protect our air and water, prosecute fraudulent business practices, inspect food and drug facilities, provide pensions and health care to seniors, provide food and shelter to the poor, provide grants for education and science, deter foreign aggressors, track down terrorists, administer programs for refugees, and so much more.
Many of our public servants could earn a higher salary in the private sector, but instead we "love our country" as our careers.
Maybe it is unseemly for a public servant to openly ask for some recognition on Independence Day, but we're the people who keep your constitutional republic from falling apart. Yet we can't do it without the rest of you -- we need your taxes and we need your careful attention to your civic duties as citizens and voters. Today you may celebrate "freedom", but freedom doesn't only mean you get to do whatever you want, it also means respecting each other's freedoms and taking responsibility for the results of your own actions.
Freedom can easily be squandered, by cutting taxes so deeply the government cannot pay for essential services. By electing criminals to high office. By making war upon innocent peoples. By seating judges who ignore both precedent and evidence to serve their factional ideologies. By scapegoating minorities who only want to live their own lives peacefully. By lying to push your own agenda. Or by putting your own party ahead of the nation.
Or by putting your own nation ahead of the rest of the world.
It's not really freedom if it only applies to you. Don't confuse selfishness with freedom. Freedom is supposed to apply to everybody -- and therein lies our political puzzle -- how to establish a world in which we all respect each others' freedom. If you're not worried about how to respect the freedom of those people you don't care about, you're doing freedom wrong.
For me it is another of those generic federal holidays, but I will work for a while today anyway. We don't earn "credit hours" for working on a paid holiday because we're already being paid for it. Basically I'm donating my time because I'm trying to get caught up on a long-term project, to reduce my own stress level.
It looks like T is on a walk as I wake -- he's nowhere in the house and both of his vehicles are in the driveway. I want to go on a run, but it will feel miserably humid and I'll bring along a bottle of cool water. The AQI is very GREEN this morning!!!
I slept a bunch last night. I made dinner for T after my workday was over, he opened a bottle of wine for it but we didn't drink it all. Then we both went to bed early. I needed to catch up on sleep after having David NYC here. Especially because yesterday morning David woke me around 5am because he was horny.
-----
In the US our leading symbols of patriotism are the Statue of Liberty, the US flag, and for some reason eagles. Maybe also the Iwo Jima Memorial, although why anybody still cares about the US conquering that 8-square-mile island with no permanent inhabitants ...
Far less beloved by the patriots are our public servants, people like me and T and several of my friends and family -- people who work for the government providing the daily services that educate our kids, respond to emergencies, patrol our borders, protect our air and water, prosecute fraudulent business practices, inspect food and drug facilities, provide pensions and health care to seniors, provide food and shelter to the poor, provide grants for education and science, deter foreign aggressors, track down terrorists, administer programs for refugees, and so much more.
Many of our public servants could earn a higher salary in the private sector, but instead we "love our country" as our careers.
Maybe it is unseemly for a public servant to openly ask for some recognition on Independence Day, but we're the people who keep your constitutional republic from falling apart. Yet we can't do it without the rest of you -- we need your taxes and we need your careful attention to your civic duties as citizens and voters. Today you may celebrate "freedom", but freedom doesn't only mean you get to do whatever you want, it also means respecting each other's freedoms and taking responsibility for the results of your own actions.
Freedom can easily be squandered, by cutting taxes so deeply the government cannot pay for essential services. By electing criminals to high office. By making war upon innocent peoples. By seating judges who ignore both precedent and evidence to serve their factional ideologies. By scapegoating minorities who only want to live their own lives peacefully. By lying to push your own agenda. Or by putting your own party ahead of the nation.
Or by putting your own nation ahead of the rest of the world.
It's not really freedom if it only applies to you. Don't confuse selfishness with freedom. Freedom is supposed to apply to everybody -- and therein lies our political puzzle -- how to establish a world in which we all respect each others' freedom. If you're not worried about how to respect the freedom of those people you don't care about, you're doing freedom wrong.