Well then, today is the 4th of July; Independence Day of course. This was something I didn't realise at first, having more pressing matters at hand. Nonetheless it was about an hour ago when I first saw the fireworks.
Interesting, since I live in Birmingham, UK - not Birmingham, Alabama (even if Google Earth disagrees).
Not that I'm complaining. I visited the United States nearly three years ago and since then have become quite a fan of it. That would be of the nation itself of course - of some of its current inhabitants I have quite different opinions. Can one make a distinction between the two? Yes, I believe so. The United States I love is the one celebrated on July 4th - the world's first major democracy, the first independent New World state, the most secular nation on Earth (at the time.
The land of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, tolerance, opportunity and optimism. When I visited, I saw monuments on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, monuments at a place called Washington Crossing. Anybody who has studied American Revolutionary history in the slightest detail will know that General Washington's crossing of the Delaware was one of the turning points in the whole revolutionary war. It led to his surprise attack on the Yorktown garrison and eventually the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and the World we know today.
That's the brief history lesson over. To me, as a British tourist, it felt odd sitting in front of the museum's television screen (this is the US after all), watching a dramatisation of events where the British are naturally 'the bad guys'. Nevertheless, I know for a fact that I am a revolutionary sympathiser - "No taxation without representation" is a statement I wholeheartedly agree with. If I were an American citizen I would no doubt be proud of my countries rich and noble history. The folks at the museum evidently were (unlike British museums which seem to have a strong phobia of saying anything positive about Britain's role in world history*).
This brings me to my final point. In the world today there seems to be plenty of anti-Americanism, especially from the unholy alliance of the loony left and the Islamofascists. Without doubt this is due to - or at least blamed on - the foriegn policy of the Bush administration (along with his policy, or lack of one, on climate change). This has also led to an enormous amount of interest in Obama vs McCain '08 from global audiences. Given my personal admiration of the principles on which the United States was founded, I'm increasingly required to justify it against the past 8 years.
As a geologist, I'm well aware that 8 years, is a very very short time indeed (geologically speaking). 232 years seperate 1776 and 2008 - the Bush administration accounts for only 3.4% of that. Is it really right for Europeans and other people to declare that they hate America based on 3.4% of its national history? The paraphrase the comedian Al Murray, "America started as a good idea, it's just got a bit out of hand". Just because I happen to love the principles of the American Revolution, doesn't mean I supported war against Iraq. Equally, the 'war on terror' doesn't invalidate the finer parts of the American Dream.
Even if warmonger McCain gets in, and the nation implodes in a frezy of foriegn adventures, terrorist witchhunts and loony christian fundamentalism, I hope someone, somewhere, will remember those Founding Fathers and their bold dream of a land of the free.
Happy Independence Day
* Think endless slavery exhibitions and irritating gestures of apology we're encouraged to make. Anyone would be forgiven for forgeting that it was Great Britain which first banned the trade in slaves, followed by the role the Royal Navy playing in eradicating it across the high seas.
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