I’ve seen there is likely some debate about celebrating the patriotic holiday of the 4th of July after yesterday. To be honest, I’ve been wondering the same thing for years, not just about it, but also about September 11th, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, don’t those just fuel the radicals who see the stars and stripes only for white, straight conservative males and those who agree with them, playing Skynyrd and Billy Ray’s “Some Gave All?”
Certainly, that is the image patriotism has taken at least in my lifetime. But, in 2019, Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles, released a song called “American Rock and Roll,” which mentions many acts people likely don’t think about who are American; Jimi Hendrix, Santana, The Allman Brothers Band, Van Halen, Guns N Roses and the “Grunge, Cantrell, Cornell and Vedder.” This isn’t just the GOP’s country, this isn’t just SCOTUS’ country, this isn’t just Lynyrd Skynyrd’s country, this is also Soundgarden and Audioslave’s country, this is Miley Cyrus’ country, this is Ariana Grande’s country, this is Demi Lovato’s country, this is Carrie Underwood and Bon Jovi’s country, this is Geoff Tate’s country, this is Sammy Hagar’s country, this is Brandi Carlile’s country, this is Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal’s country and we need to make room for us all or outside forces like Putin will knock us down or we will tear ourselves apart and die.
When I think of America, I think of when a French ambassador visited Thomas Jefferson during his presidency. Protesters were outside. The ambassador asked why Jefferson allowed it, Jefferson replied something to the effect of “We fought so they could do that.”
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