There’s also a lot of contradictions about our national conception of freedom in Philly. There were people active in the Underground Railroad, and there were people who hunted, harassed and killed them. Philadelphia was the capital during George Washington’s time as President, and photos of recent excavations of the house he lived in showed the quarters for his slaves, right across the street from where the stirring words were ratified: “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
On a hot day, after walking around the historic
area, I went in the air conditioned interpretive center, and watched a movie
filmed around 1976, where key players of the Independence movie met up 200
years after the revolution, and then re-told the story of those days and years
of the founding of our nation. A couple
things struck me: one was the scene of the signing of the Declaration of
Independence, a more somber moment than its raucous passage. One of the voices said something to the
effect that “we thought we were signing our death warrant.” I tend to forget at times what courage that
took to be so publicly identified with the cause.
The other thing that struck me was that, except for
a brief segment about appointing George Washington as commander of the army,
very little of the story presented was about the battles, the military, the war
itself. Rather it was about the ideas.
The idea of government based on the consent of the governed. The idea of liberty for all, as compromised as
that was in reality.
I think about that today because many Face Book
posts I saw this morning were about “thanking the troops for our freedom”. I have become more and more wary of that
sentiment. I understand and honor the
sacrifice that many of our troops make.
But I worry about our core belief as a nation that it is our military
that makes us free. I could argue that war
may have been inevitable to win independence from England, and that war was
inevitable to end slavery. I can make
the case that by the time we entered World War II, we had no choice. But so
many of our wars that have been promoted as protecting our freedom are not
about that at all: the Mexican War, the wars against the native nations, the
Spanish-American War had nothing to do with freedom, but with gaining land and
projecting our power. Our recent
adventures: Iraq, Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama—how was our freedom protected
there? You could make the case that the
initial invasion of Afghanistan was needed to weaken Al Qaeda, but can you make
the case that our 12 year occupation is about freedom?
I would like to see posts today about Thomas Paine
and Abigail Adams as defenders of our freedom. I would like to hear the
commentators at “A Capitol Fourth” and “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks”
leave the military out of it for just one day, and lift up Sojourner Truth, Eugene
Debs, Bayard Rustin, Clyde Bellecourt and Cesar Chavez as defenders of our
freedom. I would like to have an honest
discussion in our nation about why we spend more on defense than the next 10
countries combined, and I would like
to have a discussion about why our nation—the land of the free and the home of
the brave—has been involved in more wars than any other nation since the end of
World War II.
My parents both served in World War II, and I honor
their service. I know people who have
come back from wars who suffered terribly, and we need to do all we can to help
them heal. But I would love to see this
Independence Day, or one soon, be an independence from our love affair with
war. And I especially would love to see
me, and my fellow Christians, live out our freedom maker’s call to love our enemies.
A happy and reflective 4th of July!
Be justice.
Be beauty.
Patrick
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