Day 4210 - Independence Day

It was unusually quiet for a major holiday. The streets were empty. Neighborhood cafes didn't seem busy. Even the park wasn't very full. It really felt like the entire city had left and gone to the beach. Bad weather or the pandemic certainly weren't keeping people indoors this year. They were just someplace else. I have a feeling that every lake, sandy beach, and National Park was pretty crowded today.

The weather was actually very nice this morning and we tried to take advantage of it. Dawn got a nice early walk after we got up. We slept in a bit this morning, but it was still cloudy and cool when we left the house. I'm glad that Dawn is eating normally again. It makes life a little less stressful. When we returned from our walk, Janet and I had a holiday breakfast of pancakes and bacon and then took Dawn for her Sunday outing. Dawn expects this trip now and gets really excited as we get ready to go. Janet works on Dawn's training exercises while we are walking and I can already tell that Dawn is getting better. We both think the training class has been good for her. She is becoming much more confident now. 

When we took Dawn for her ice cream cone on the way home, we were the only customer. This was really strange because the place is usually packed on weekends. As we ate our cones in the car, we didn't see a single car go through Andy's drive through. Today was perfect ice cream weather too. Where did all the people go this year? It felt more like last year's lockdown Fourth of July than a normal Independence Day.

I still think Independence Day is worth celebrating. If you read the Declaration of Independence and think about what it says, it is a remarkable document. The founding fathers were brilliant and thoughtful men who were able to create something that has lasted for over two hundred years by recognizing that individuals should control the state rather than the state controlling the individual. If these leaders were alive today they would seem more like libertarians than democrats or republicans. They believed in very limited government and created a republic rather than a representative democracy specifically to prevent the federal government from becoming too powerful.

The United States has grown and evolved over the years, but the goal has largely remained the same. There has been a strong desire to provide equal opportunities that would allow individual exceptionalism to flourish. Individualism is what made this country great. Individual states and individual communities were free to chart their own path as long as they operated under the umbrella of a rule of laws that were outlined in the constitution. It's a shame that all this is in jeopardy now. There are those who want to diminish the importance of individualism and substitute the collective will of the state. There are those who think equal outcomes are more appropriate than equal opportunities. I find this very sad. When you destroy the individual and reduce everything to the lowest common denominator you basically destroy civilization itself.

It isn't surprising that people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are almost desperate to get off the planet and start over. They know what's coming. There are too many people in the world and globalization, along with a benign world government run by the United Nations will only makes things worse. Global corporations would love to turn the entire world into affluent consumers. The more we consume the quicker we all become extinct. The planet simply cannot support a world full of affluent people cutting down all the trees for homes and eating all the fish in the sea. Why don't people understand this? If your spirit animal is a unicorn, you're doomed. Humanity's goal should be reducing the population rather than increasing opportunities so everyone can consume more. Ahh, but maybe somebody does understand. Maybe the pandemic was just a practice run. Maybe the next one will wipe out everyone except the Chinese. The Chinese win the long game you know. They don't have to deal with this messy little moment in time that the founding fathers created. Have a happy Independence Day.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3845 - Independence Day

I guess I'm sort of a lazy patriot. I never served in the military. I seldom fly a flag, although we did have one on our house for a while right after 9/11. I'm proud to be an American though. I like it here. I've visited and worked in other countries and none of them even comes close to this one. I really hate to see people tearing this country down for things we either did or didn't do in the past. You've got to put historical events in context. Everything happens for a reason. The journey from the Stone Age to the Rolling Stones has taken us three million years. Humanity has only been keeping track of this journey for around five thousand years, but still that is a lot of time. When the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence they had already learned from the Mesopotamians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Italian Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, The Protestant Reformation, the establishment of parliamentary democracy in England and much more.

It's not really fair to condemn the founding fathers for owning slaves. The practice was commonplace at the time and in fact has been commonplace throughout human history. You can throw a dart at any civilization and you will find slaves. The Romans had them. The Aztecs had them. Many countries still have them today. It was commendable that John Quincy Adams rejected slavery, but he was the exception rather than the rule.

I think we should remember Washington, Jefferson and the others who signed the Declaration of Independence for their brilliance in creating a system of self governance that has lasted far longer than most. The history of the world is mostly a history of war and revolution. Generally the citizens haven't ruled. When you look at the United States through the lens of history, we come out looking pretty good. The founding fathers designed a system that was durable and flexible enough to adapt to a world that none of them would have recognized. Hey, we only had one civil war. The French had at least four.

While I'm sitting here musing about history, everyone else seems to be outside shooting off fireworks. It sounds like a war zone in our neighborhood. I don't know what it proved to eliminate public fireworks displays this year. Everyone seems determined to have their own. I think fireworks became cheap and abundant this year when so many municipalities decided to cancel their public displays because of the coronavirus. Apparently people have been shooting off fireworks every night in major cities for weeks now. I think this is happening in Dallas too, but I live far enough away from the city center that I don't hear what goes on downtown. I'm sure Dawn hears the fireworks, but she certainly isn't bothered by them. She's just sleeping calmly on the bed now.

It was a little cooler today and the park wasn't as crowded as I expected. There were the usual Saturday morning runners and cyclists, but there weren't many picnics and barbecues. Actually Fourth of July celebrations have been declining for several years. Cinco de Mayo is the big day for picnics in the park these days. Sign of the times I guess. Independence Day doesn't get as much respect anymore.

I removed the remaining water from the roof today. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. My gym has been open for several weeks now, but I think I'll wait a while before returning. Gyms still seem to wind up on the list of most dangerous list of things to do while walking in the park appears to be the safest.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day