Happy 250th America!!!

[Jake from State Farm]

 

[Jake from State Farm]

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

 

[maumann2]

The founding fathers took a massive chance that a bunch of colonists who didn't really have much in common would band together to somehow take on the greatest and most advanced military in the world at that time and prevail. The idea to declare their independence from the king was a high-risk gamble with serious consequences.

The American Experiment survives because we as a people are not only resilient but eternally optimistic. We survived 1812. We survived 1861. We survived 1941. We survived 1968.

I'm proud to be an American but not proud of what the country represents right now. It may not seem like it today but we will survive this because we've always had the willpower to eventually do the right thing when pushed to the limit.

Despite our massive faults, we are the envy of the world when it comes to standard of living, freedom of choice and innovation. We're still the only country to land humans on another world and get them home safely. As shown by the visitors to the World Cup, America is still full of wonderment that sometimes we overlook or take for granted. Our potential is only limited by the restraints placed upon us by incompetent leadership.

Happy birthday, America. You still look good for 250.

 

[BTExpress]

I consider myself fortunate to be an American. I save "pride" for those things over which I had control and which took effort/talent/discipline. In other words, accomplishments.

 

[DanOregon]

Still packs a punch.

 

[DanOregon]

Obviously America the Beautiful is a classic. And I guess the US Soccer team has adopted Country Roads as its "victory song" after games. But is there a better option for a "national song" to rep the US? Particularly not one that mentions how "awesome" the US is aka certain songs by Lee Greenwood, Springsteen, Toby Keith, Mellencamp etc.
Free Bird? Don't Stop Believing? Dreams? September?

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Still packs a punch.

This should be the national anthem

 

[WriteThinking]

An interesting, little bit less conventional look at the fight for American independence, from The Atlantic:

It Wasn’t Just the Founders

 

[I Should Coco]

The founding fathers took a massive chance that a bunch of colonists who didn't really have much in common would band together to somehow take on the greatest and most advanced military in the world at that time and prevail. The idea to declare their independence from the king was a high-risk gamble with serious consequences.

The American Experiment survives because we as a people are not only resilient but eternally optimistic. We survived 1812. We survived 1861. We survived 1941. We survived 1968.

I'm proud to be an American but not proud of what the country represents right now. It may not seem like it today but we will survive this because we've always had the willpower to eventually do the right thing when pushed to the limit.

Despite our massive faults, we are the envy of the world when it comes to standard of living, freedom of choice and innovation. We're still the only country to land humans on another world and get them home safely. As shown by the visitors to the World Cup, America is still full of wonderment that sometimes we overlook or take for granted. Our potential is only limited by the restraints placed upon us by incompetent leadership.

Happy birthday, America. You still look good for 250.

Great post, @maumann2!

I took a few minutes this morning to go ahead and read through the Declaration of Independence -- for the first time in many years.

Couldn't help but pause at Thomas Jefferson's words (emphasis added by me):

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government ..."

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Intentionally cross-threading ... the "Children, all is not lost" line grabbed me on Chicago's "Saturday in the Park":

 

[BTExpress]

--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government ..."

And there's your Jan. 6 justification.

The government became "destructive" by certifying a rigged and stolen election.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

... and with Chicago goes an offering from James Taylor:

 

[HanSenSE]

And just for the religious crowd, and the hockey fans.

 

[Gym Beam]

 

[dixiehack]

It turns out when you live above the hill from the small-town fireworks show, you don’t have to show up early. You don’t have to be surrounded by people who would take a swing at you if they knew the way you voted. And you don’t have to sit through a bunch of jingoistic bro country just to watch the pretty boom booms.

You can plop a camp chair in your back yard, crack open a Shiner and listen to the soundtrack you want.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Happy 250th! For anyone who wants a history lesson:

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Obviously America the Beautiful is a classic. And I guess the US Soccer team has adopted Country Roads as its "victory song" after games. But is there a better option for a "national song" to rep the US? Particularly not one that mentions how "awesome" the US is aka certain songs by Lee Greenwood, Springsteen, Toby Keith, Mellencamp etc.
Free Bird? Don't Stop Believing? Dreams? September?

 

[SixToe]

 

[Batman]