Happy Fourth of July! Never give up!

[Lynx]

The Most Mocked Man in the World - Now Certain to be Ranked the Worst President in American History
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/4/1668107/-The-Most- ... ican-History

The Hijacked American Presidency
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/trump-hijacked-am ... -left-region

...There are no new words to express it; there is no new and novel way to catalog it. It is what it is and has been from day one: The most extraordinary and profound electoral mistake America has made in our lifetimes and possibly ever....

...Donald Trump is depending on people’s fatigue. He is banking on your becoming overwhelmed by his never-ending antics. He is counting on his capacity to wear down the resistance by sheer force.

We must be adamant that that will never come to pass. Trump is an abomination, and a cancer on the country, and none of us can rest until he is no longer holding the reins of power.

The second, especially, is worth a read.

We cannot rest, we cannot focus too closely on attempts to look at a new shiny ball.

Trump has to go.

[mmeadow]

I'm not much of a patriot.

http://howardzinn.org/put-away-the-flags/

[Lynx]

A difficult article to read. So true, so true.

Not a big patriot here either. Except for the desire to help save us from ruin.

[GPIG]

I read the article, some valid points, some extreme. I suppose patriot is one of those words that has different meanings for different people. I think you are a patriot Lynx. Fighting for the America you believe should exist is being a patriot in my opinion, even if we disagree.

We were handed a republic, "if we could keep it" It was imperfect, especially in hindsight. It wasn't inclusive but the ability to change was built into it because they knew they were imperfect. I try to never forget the "original patriots" as they were called, however they may appear now, were guilty of high treason with the penalty of death assigned for the crime of crafting and signing the Declaration of Independence. I believe the ideas behind that Declaration, sans hypocrisy, are still worth fighting for. That's my version.

[Bookfan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-isnt-a-norma ... 187fa10fdd2a

America isn’t a normal country

But, as Abraham Lincoln noted, the Declaration could have established national independence without its second paragraph about the human rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” “The assertion that ‘all men are created equal,’ ” Lincoln argued, “was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain.” As he saw it, the Founders, while constrained by the political realities of their time, set out a non-arbitrary, timeless truth “for future use.”

“They meant simply to declare the right,” said Lincoln, “so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for . . . even though never perfectly attained.”

Why is that maxim so important? At one level, Lincoln’s answer was bluntly practical. If liberty is denied to anyone, it could eventually be denied to you. “And when you have stricken down the principles of the Declaration of Independence,” he said, “and thereby consigned the Negro to hopeless and eternal bondage, are you quite sure that the demon will not turn and rend you? Will not the people then be ready to go down beneath the tread of any tyrant who may wish to rule them?”

[GPIG]

Good post Bookfan. Abe was the best. Sometimes I think President Lincoln was the fast forward version of the best of the framers combined. Somehow, his interpretations for all of it, were in my opinion, precisely what the originals had in mind but couldn't quite articulate due to their time.

About 2 years ago I took my daughter to Washington and not being able to sleep we walked over to the Lincoln Memorial and were alone. At all times, but especially during the solitude of night, there is an enormity of emotions around that memorial like none other. The burden he carried is so present. I know EP could feel it too. It really makes one think.

[GPIG]

I just finished reading Killing Lincoln. Excellent book.