Commentary
Independence Day
By Russell Walker
July 4, 2009
There is probably nothing more hypocritical than Independence Day in the United States. This nation is dependent on manufactured goods from China, dependent on stoop labor from Mexico, dependent on oil from various foreign countries and dependent on wood pulp and lumber from Canada. We wave the flag while we talk about the home of the brave and land of the free. Brave must refer to bombing innocents from 40,000 feet in Dresden, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Free must refer to the 2.5 million people in jail in the United States. Justice must refer to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo where people are held for years without charges, denied lawyers, access to evidence and communication with the outside world. Who are the real terrorists?
The major business in this country is the Law Enforcement Growth Industry. It produces no wealth but costs not just our money but our souls. We criticize totalitarian societies for their "travel papers" while we are required to have driver's licenses, registrations, and proofs of insurance. Traffic court is probably the most corrupt institution in the US. The Declaration of Independence states that -- "He has erected a multitude of officers to harass us and eat out our substance." If that is not true today then it was never true. It is illegal to even set off a firecracker on the 4th of July.
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