God Bless America.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a song \u2013 one you\u2019re likely going to hear a lot in the next few days.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a prayer \u2013 one that is really, really needed these days.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a cliche \u2013 one used far too often by those who think they are better than everyone else today.<\/p>\n
This Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I mention this just in case you\u2019ve been in a soap opera-style coma for the last year or so.<\/p>\n
A 250th anniversary is called a semiquincentennial. Yes, I had to look it up.The term translates to halfway to 500 years. Do you see it now?<\/p>\n
I have to admit, I think it\u2019s a pretty big deal that we\u2019ve made it this far. I\u2019m pleased I am around to see it, too.<\/p>\n
250 years of democracy is an accomplishment. Consider what it means. A whole bunch of people \u2013 currently around 350 million \u2013 have to agree to let elected representatives decide what direction our government will go. If they don\u2019t do what you want, you can always vote against them the next time around.<\/p>\n
And while there have been some rough patches, it has worked. There has always been a minority opposed to the party in power, but they\u2019ve almost always been a loyal minority \u2013 loyal to the concept of a democratic government, at least.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that we\u2019re in one of the rougher rough patches right now (especially if you live in California). We have leaders attempting to redefine who qualifies as American, redefine what a representative election looks like, and redefine what it means to be a patriot.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a whole lot of profiteering going on as we reach our 250th birthday. It\u2019s pretty much a tradition of our form of capitalism to sell merchandise around any holiday, and this is a big one. Heck, I got a 250th anniversary hat for Father\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
Still, I think it\u2019s just tacky for someone in power to make money on Fourth of July tchotchkes, especially tchotchkes with their face on them. Apparently, some people don\u2019t care if they look tacky, at least if it increases their bank balance.<\/p>\n
Speaking of bank balances, do we really need a $250 bill? I guess it\u2019s halfway to a $500 bill \u2013 but we don\u2019t have that either, do we?<\/p>\n
(Fun fact. There was a $500 bill for a while, with President William McKinley\u2019s picture on it. It hasn\u2019t been printed since 1969.)<\/p>\n
There are lots of parties planned \u2013 it\u2019s pretty cool that the Fourth is on a Saturday, isn\u2019t it? I\u2019ll miss the Big Bang on the Bay, along with most of Long Beach. I can only imagine the bash John Morris would have thrown.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s trying to make up for that loss by adding fireworks barges along the coast. That way, more people can get up close and personal by sitting on the beach and the bluff.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t be there \u2013 I don\u2019t have to take pictures for the paper anymore. Besides, it\u2019s a sure bet I\u2019ll be up close and personal with plenty of fireworks in my north Long Beach neighborhood \u2013 fireworks ban be damned.<\/p>\n
But let me get back to the fact that this really is a pretty big deal. I know that 250 years is not a long time compared to European history (the Old Country is really old), but the fact we\u2019ve managed to stumble along in the land of the free for two and a half centuries is pretty cool.<\/p>\n
The American dream, the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, is alive and at least comparatively well.<\/p>\n
Is it perfect? Of course not. Is it better than most of the rest of the world? I think so.<\/p>\n
As a newspaper guy for most of my life, you can bet that the freedom of speech is near and dear to my heart. I continue to fight for that right every day. Again, that isn\u2019t perfect here, but it\u2019s a heck of a lot better than in most places.<\/p>\n
One part of that freedom is to allow people to have their say even when we don\u2019t agree with them. I\u2019ve made that argument more than once, too. I hate it when the disagreements turn nasty or when someone tries to stifle my right to free speech. Nasty happens, but that freedom must prevail.<\/p>\n
I believe I am truly blessed to live in this country of ours. I am proud to be an American. My flag will fly on the Fourth of July, because it stands for freedom. That\u2019s the American way.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019ll say it again.<\/p>\n
God bless America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"God Bless America. It\u2019s a song \u2013 one you\u2019re likely going to hear a lot in the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8462,8461,131,133,132,137,3738],"class_list":["post-384135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-grunion-opinion","tag-grunion-pinch-of-salt","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-the-grunion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}