Musings on Independence

[pdlloyd]

Sometimes, I think it's a good idea to step back and look at how we see ourselves as Americans and what independence, freedom, and democracy mean to us. I know that my attitudes were mostly formed by experiences in my childhood, although they are also informed, I hope, by more mature thought.

Events from my childhood that influenced my understanding on this subject include (in no particular order):

• Learning about the Declaration of Independence in elementary school. Wikipedia's article provides a good overview.
  
• Learning about the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights in elementary school. Here's the Wikipedia article about the constitution, which includes an overview of the Bill of Rights, and the main article about the Bill of Rights is here.
  
• Saying the Pledge of Allegiance each morning in elementary school, and dropping the reference to God, because I felt uncomfortable referencing a deity I didn't really believe in. (My dad is what I sometimes call a devout atheist, my mother had experienced abuse and injustice hiding under the name of religion; I generally call myself a relaxed agnostic today, meaning that even if I can't quite bring myself to believe, I don't feel qualified to make a judgment about the existence of God or the truth of any of the world's many religions.) Learning later that the words "under God" were added to the pledge after the fact confirmed my sense that there was something odd about this religious utterance within a pledge to a nation that has incorporated religious freedom into its constitution. I thought the Supreme Court agreed with that, not too long ago, but a quick search shows it was a lower court and the Supreme Court overturned the decision which would have stricken the words from the pledge. There's an interesting set of articles which attempt to provide a balanced overview of this topic at ProCon.org.
  
• Becoming aware of the USA's involvement in wars overseas, especially the Vietnam war, as I was growing up.
  
• Becoming aware of the many protests across our nation in the 60s and 70s and some of the violence (such as the Kent State Massacre) that occurred in relation to those protests. Wondering if I would be hurt or killed when I went off to college.
  
• Developing my own political views, as distinct from my dad's (my mom chose not to share her political beliefs with her children, so I have only indirect evidence of her views, but I suspect my views are closer to hers, than to his).
  

Today, I worry about the direction in which our nation is moving. I worry that we meddle in other nations affairs on the basis of what will provide the most money to our corporate coffers. I worry that even when we seem to be acting to help others, our actions may do more harm than good. I worry that personal freedoms and liberties within our borders are in danger of over-zealous policing that ignores our constitutional rights. I worry that the executive branch of our government has been too effective in gaining power and that the intended balance between our branches is in danger, or worse, no longer exists. I worry that I should be doing more as a citizen to express my views and to help shape our nation in the directions I feel are most appropriate.

I'm really interested in what others think about this subject, so please share your memories, beliefs, and feelings.