What Would Nellis Say?

On this semi-monumental anniversary, we must ask, what are we celebrating? Is it the wonder of our determination to maintain and improve this audacious experiment in democracy over two and a half centuries? Is it true liberty and freedom for every American or just some of us? Is it pride in our government, our leaders, and all that we as a people stand for, as a model of hope for the citizens of every other nation…or something more dark and sinister rolling across the country like storm clouds threatening damnation?

 

Is it a shared vision of a better, safer, fairer, and more secure life for every child in future generations or acceptance of thousands of armed, masked thugs disappearing our refugee friends and neighbors, children and infants, and American citizens without judicial warrants or legal justification? Is it hope for healing the societal rupture that has divided us into warring tribes bent on decimating the principles and values that make this country the envy of the world?

 

If you are foolish enough to listen to Donald Trump’s blather, you realize that this anniversary is not a celebration of our history, real equality for everyone, glimmering goals lifting our hopes and spirits to fulfill our dreams, or bringing us together with a common purpose and a vibrant vision of a better future.

 

It’s all about him.

 

It’s about gaudy billion dollar ballrooms, algae filled memorial pools, and a “rally to end all rallies” that had lots of fluttering flags and B2 flyovers but no notable performers other than Trump rambling incoherently to a meager crowd that wandered away before he was finished speaking. The festivities planned for the Fourth of July will simply repeat the fiasco.

 

He is proposing an absurd arch that will not commemorate any notable triumph or national tragedy other than glorifying his insatiable ego. Our capitol is awash in giant banners featuring his scowling face billowing from government buildings while he is proving his own ignorance and incompetence by losing a pointless war of his own making to a minor power, trashing the world economy, and being shunned and rejected by world leaders at the recent G7 conference in France last month.

 

There is no mention of the struggles our forefathers endured or the lives lost in the battle to establish a nation founded on liberty, freedom, and justice for every pilgrim who fled to the new world in search of an opportunity to live their dreams…and that includes just about all of us. Nor is the government’s propaganda machine mentioning the ultimate sacrifice made by millions of Americans defending our country and our way of life against enemies foreign and domestic through these two and a half centuries.

 

Our history books, memorials, and communal consciousness are being sanitized to promote white supremacy while ignoring the horrors European settlers inflicted on the Native Americans who occupied this continent for millennia before white people arrived, or black slaves kidnapped from Africa and sold into slavery, a national sin that continues to this day with the ongoing oppression of their children’s children’s children, or the violent bigotry waged against every wave of immigrants who fled and are still fleeing nightmares in their home countries to endure being demonized and ostracized for generations before graduating through the gauntlet to become accepted and integrated as legitimate citizens in American society.

 

The Supreme Court’s recent termination of TPS - Temporary Protected Status for 1.3 million Syrians, Somalis, and refugees from other countries, who escaped their own national calamities and have lived, worked, and paid taxes in this country legally for decades and now face arrest and deportation without cause or justification, other than Trump and little Stevie Miller’s hate for people with brown skin.

 

Their decision preserves and expands the tyrannical tradition of societal division and racial torment our original revolutionaries were trying to defeat.

 

It took two hundred and fifty years for a tiny clique of ultra-wealthy fascist revisionists to succeed in poisoning our national consciousness and burying the union in hate, lies, and relentless divisive propaganda. It will only take one election to begin erasing the damage inflicted by a league of tyrants and rebuilding our democracy if we are willing to rise up as one people to defend our nation and the legacy this holiday represents.

 

This is a moment to reflect on the real essence of our founding, when ordinary citizens transformed suffrage under tyrannical rule into a quest for political, intellectual, and religious freedom…and refused to be denied the ultimate goal of establishing an independent nation of, by, and for all the people. That heritage demands we honor the obligation they passed down to us.

 

We must be willing to stand together to defend our union against demolition from within, so ignore radical leaders who espouse division and hate as somehow patriotic, and instead, join with your neighbors and your community to celebrate our achievements, mourn our sacrifices, and renew the common values that, despite our differences, bind us as one people and provide a pathway to a more unified, empathetic, and inclusive future.

 

Stand Up! Speak Out! Make A Difference!

 

For more of his essays and novels visit www.rickstiller.com and floral portraits from his garden at www.rickstillerart.com