Happy birthday, America! This pup and his Stars and Stripes are my wallpaper today.
Can you imagine the guts it took for those men to declare our freedom 231 years ago? Do you think any of our leaders could display the same kind of raw courage today? I doubt it, too.
I wonder if today's U.S.A. is what Thomas Jefferson, et al., envisioned on that summer's day more than two centuries ago. Here's some food for thought on What Would Jefferson Do? (or, for this day alone, WWJD?)
- What would Jefferson do if someone proposed making gay marriage illegal?
- What would Jefferson do after having the land he loves attacked by a madman and his followers? Would he retaliate against another country which played no role in the terrorism enacted upon his beloved soil?
- What would Jefferson do if a key federal adviser was found guilty of a crime and sentenced to prison? Would he OK a pardon? Call this man "a great American," as one Tennessean planning to announce his intentions to run for POTUS has?
- What would Jefferson do if the majority of Americans elected a man POTUS, but the electoral votes weren't there to complete the transaction?
- What would Jefferson do if, in the same election, there were questions about votes cast? Or in a subsequent election?
- What would Jefferson do in the event of arguments over religion? Would he think there is a superior religion? Or would he be tolerant of all faiths and beliefs?
- What would Jefferson do if officials talked of closing off America's borders? Would he control immigration?
- What would Jefferson do about health care? Would he recognize the insurance lobbyists as the ones who have a choke hold on the progress that could be made?
Government for the people, by the people and of the people seems to be an ideal that has been lost over the centuries. It is up to us to see that the visions of Jefferson and those who bravely put their necks on the line for our freedom to carry out their ideals.
Are we up to the task? After all they risked, how can we not be?
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