Happy 4th of July!

 Happy 4th, we, the USA, are 245 years old today.  Despite it all, we should be proud. We granted freedom and gave people civil rights in less than 200 years, where others have taken in some cases, thousands of years.  For those who want to take down statues and memorials, please remember that those who do not learn history, and the lessons of the past, are condemned to repeat the past, and not in a good way.

How many of this cancel culture movement have ever heard of The Cultural Revolution in China?  Not many, I fear.  In a communist dictatorship like China's, they would not be able to protest and criticize as they do in the US.    We aren't perfect, no, and the US has made mistakes, but on the other hand, we have laws to rectify those mistakes.   One of those is the Supreme Law of the Land, the US Constitution, which has been amended to grant individual rights and to rectify past wrongs.   Many of those ignoring it today, event hose in power who are ignoring it took an oath to uphold it, as did I in my career.  Shame on them for behaving like hypocrites and traitors to gain a few votes.

On this 4th, I'd like to hear The Star Spangled Banner.  How many you out there, especially those of you who take a knee and make fun of it, know that it is prison literature.  Francis Scott Key was being held prisoner on a ship by the British during the War of 1812.   He wrote the poem because he was watching the American flag, and he know that as long as it was flying, the United States was still the United States.

Had we lost that war and fallen under a monarchy, I promise you we would not be having the protests we have had, or the calls for anarchy, and all kinds of historical destruction.  And, it was a serious war.  Even today, a bill circulates in Parliament regarding us, the original "colonies" inviting us to joint the commonwealth, or telling us we can become British citizens any time we want.

Red State, Blue State, liberal, conservative, whatever ethnicity, if we hold citizenship, we are Americans.  We need to remember that on this of all days.  

I am neither Democrat nor Republic; I vote for the person.    I am a citizen by birth, though my father, grandfather, and grandmother were naturalized citizens.  My grandfather served in World War I; he was an FDR Democrat.  My Dad served in the US Air Force and the Royal Hellenic Air Force.  He was in the US for over 60 years of his life, and he loved his country.  My family has served in World War I, World War II,  in The Gulf War, the Korean War, and the National Guard during Vietnam.

We are more like most people, than an exception.  

So happy 4th, and God Bless the United States, and be safe!