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3 Things to Read This Independence Day Weekend
Happy Independence Day. Or, from Britain’s perspective, Happy Treason Day, you ungrateful colonials.
One good habit on this anniversary of our Independence is to read the actual Declaration by the Second Continental Congress, agreed to on July 2nd but announced a couple of days later. It’s not a lengthy document but is the “why” behind the “how” of the Constitution, ratified some 13 years later after our war for Independence, which I’m reminded of every time I pass by the Brandywine River a few miles west of our home.
But I suggest reading two more documents by the American patriot, Thomas Paine, who is perhaps the most interesting of our nation’s founders. British born, he came to America in 1774, and a year later, wrote the document — a pamphlet — “Common Sense” that makes the case for American independence. It’s a bit longer than the Constitution, but worth your time.
Just where does an American-based corporation and their rich, male, former jock, brand representative get off imposing history over the narrative of a woman? I had thought we were past powerful privileged men silencing, dismissing, and trivializing herstory. Yet here we are, with another patriarchal pack mansplaining a woman’s original work. The corporate leadership of Nike, following the lead of Colin Kaepernick, have branded 
“Since well before 1787, liberty has been understood as freedom from government action, not entitlement to government benefits.” — Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting opinion Obergefell v. Hodges 2015
One of the most portentous constitutional developments over the past several generations is the extent to which Congress has surrendered its responsibilities to the other two branches of government. Indeed, too many policies have been imposed by political aristocrats in the judiciary and bureaucracy without even a pretense of accountability to the people. Thus, when ordinary citizens are confronted with dictates that reconfigure industries, attack religious beliefs, impose hiring quotas, require transgender bathrooms, or justify mob actions instigated by over-privileged brats, they have every right to exclaim: “When did we ever consent to that?” 
