Painting by American John Trumbull
In 1776, 57 brave men created the American republic by signing an historic document — the Declaration of Independence. Their constituents, if you will, were 3 million people in 13 colonies.
The declaration signers wanted freedom from tyranny – and from the British military that wanted to arrest them for sedition and treason.
Thankfully, countless men and women have fought to honor the Declaration of Independence and to protect the freedoms of Americans, including the right to bear arms.
In the 21st century, the Fourth of July is a holiday of festivities and fireworks for Americans. However, too few Americans appreciate the risks of those 57 brave men – making freedom possible for all us.
Personally, my freedom-loving philosophy is deep-rooted.
My now-deceased father was a valiant soldier in World War II in the bloody battle at New Guinea from 1942-1945 that prevented the Japanese invasion of Australia:
My father’s sacrifices resulted in what would now be called post-traumatic syndrome and he became an alcoholic and passed away in 1970.
The American flag that draped his coffin is a constant reminder of his sacrifices. On such occasions, it’s worth noting the flag is folded 13 ways.
My stepfather, who passed away at age 90, a great person and who suffered from longtime severe physical ailments, was a lifelong liberal Democrat, member of the National Rifle Association but he opposed capital punishment.
He, too, was a World War II veteran, a longtime gun owner, a staunch believer in the right to bear arms, and patriotic supporter of the Declaration of Independence.
Heartbreaking decline in patriotism
Otherwise, as a liberal, my stepfather once called then-presidential Donald Trump “a clown.” But from his wheelchair, he voted for President Trump in 2016 after comparing his patriotism with candidate Hillary Clinton and the decline in America’s culture and freedoms.
Ironically, he wasn’t alone with his concerns. Patriotism is waning by one of the nation’s most-accurate pollsters, Rasmussen Reports. In 2022 — America’s 246th birthday — an accurate pollster issued disturbing news: Most say Founding Fathers wouldn’t be happy.
This, despite the implication of a 2017 Rasmussen headline, “Most Still Link July 4 With Declaration of Independence,” Americans’ patriotism continues to deteriorate.
Rasmussen reported only just over half of adults are patriotic: Its national telephone and online survey found that only 56 percent of American Adults consider Independence Day one of the nation’s most important holidays.
This compares unfavorably to the results of a Rasmussen survey released back in 2012.
Respondents were queried whether they agreed with this principle, “governments derive their only just powers from the consent of the governed.”
It was shocking to read that only 70 percent of Americans – who live in freedom – agreed that government gets its authority from the will of the people. Thirteen percent disagreed. Seventeen percent were undecided.
Google’s contradictions
Google is hugely successful and influences America’s culture. It has prompted Bing to become better and prompted Yahoo’s sale to Verizon.
Every year on July 4th, Google’s doodle honors the holiday.
Google’s Fourth of July 2012 doodle spelled out the words: “This Land Was Made for You and Me,” in paying tribute to the inspiring Woody Guthrie tune.
Positioned under the doodle is this statement: “Celebrate freedom. Support a free and open Internet.”
Agreed, to be sure, freedom is a longtime principle as Aristotle once wrote: “The basis of a democratic state is liberty.”
Further, Susan Molinari, Google’s vice president of public policy and government affairs for the Americas, blogged: “We’ve only just begun to see what a free and open Internet can do for people and for the freedom we cherish.”
Both statements are meaningful, but Google’s declarations about freedom are representative of at least three contradictions:
- Google’s spying – capturing of personal information of Internet WIFI users via its street view car. The search engine has faced heavy criticism and penalties worldwide for its so-called inadvertent massive collection of personal data.
- Its CEO, Larry Page, attacked Facebook’s user-data practices in an interview with Charlie Rose.
- Then, on the eve of the 2012 Day of Independence, there’s a rather disturbing WebProNews headline: “Google Shopping Incites 2nd Amendment Row by Removing Guns from Search.”
Google’s announcement:
“We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google Shopping,” the Google Shopping Team wrote. “In order to comply with our new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center.”
Naturally, Google drew fire from consumers and merchants. Proponents of the 2nd Amendment launched a petition drive – it demanded Google “not interfere with our 2nd amendment rights…”
But you’ll notice the petition was published on Change.org, a leftwing site which soon closed the petition drive.
Terrorism in America
With terrorism on the rise in the U.S. as we saw in Orlando and San Bernardino, soft-target attacks at public buildings or restaurants are the favorites of terrorists. It’s prompted numerous warnings and expert tips and videos to prevent and survive a terrorist attack.
Google has drawn fire from Associated Press and other media firms because it publishes news headlines to their stories. This means Google is, in reality, a media company.
Studies consistently show the media is biased in favor of liberals. Simply Google the key words, “liberal media bias,” and you’ll see millions of search results. If you check Google News, you’ll see the vast majority of headlines are biased in favor of leftwing opinions.
So with the news-media biased treatment of Donald Trump, it’s easy to see why Americans’ Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low | Gallup. Americans’ distrust of the media had sunk to the lowest level in Gallup polling history.
With a dominant search market share, Google has a responsibility to practice what it preaches with honesty, objectivity and accuracy.
Therefore, Google appears disingenuous and self-serving when it campaigns for freedom – meanwhile, with the perception that it slants the news and violates the rights of millions of its users.
…The land of the free and home of the brave…the sacrifices of my loved ones appear in vain.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are pertinent freedom topics:
Do We Really Honor the Declaration of Independence? — Progressively more every year, many Americans, especially public officials, demonstrate they need to review the reasons for Independence Day and why we celebrate the fourth of July. It is, of course, a national U.S. holiday that commemorates the adoption of our unique Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson was inspired to write the historic document between June 11 and 28, 1776. He eloquently stated the convictions of Americans. They weren’t new ideals expressing the desire for liberty. John Locke and others beat him to it.
2 Democrat Presidents Provide Lessons for Obama in Terrorism — Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, both Democrats, won wide respect for their handling of monster threats to America. Plus, both presidents did not hesitate to identify the enemies, call them out on their lies, and to take decisive action. Why President Obama’s political correctness threatens America’s free-enterprise system.
Like Nobility in the Age of Kings, Ruling Class Gets Trumped — Throughout history, there have been ruling classes in every region of the world. Noteworthy in Europe were the Dark Ages in which the ruling classes dominated ordinary, hardworking folks. That’s true for 21st century America. But like the Age of Enlightenment in the 1700s, America’s ruling class in 2016 is getting trumped by a voter revolt.
Are We Doing Enough to Cherish Memory of 9/11 Victims? — If we really want to cherish the memory of the 9/11 victims, we’re falling far short of the goal. Why? We’re not doing our best to prevent more victims of terrorism for two reasons.
“The basis of a democratic state is liberty.”
-Aristotle
__________
