How Not to Celebrate the 4th of July

Happy belated Fourth of July, everyone!  243 years ago this week, Thomas Jefferson and a group of revolutionaries signed the Declaration of Independence; which kicked the underestimated experiment with self-government that later ended up serving as a model that many other countries around the world would follow. 

People celebrate Independence Day in a variety of different ways.  Some people with cast-iron stomachs vie for the top prize in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest. Most other people enjoy either hamburgers and hot dogs but with a much smaller portion size. Many communities and neighborhoods gather for fireworks displays and those whose communities do not offer fireworks displays had the option of watching the Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular on NBC and/or the “Salute to America” put on by President Trump featuring a series of air shows as well as a fireworks display. Most Americans make sure to include the colors of the American flag in their wardrobe: red, white, and blue.

Historically, the American flag serves as a symbol of the Fourth of July the same way a Christmas tree symbolizes Christmas, a pumpkin symbolizes Halloween, a heart symbolizes Valentine’s Day, and a shamrock symbolizes St. Patrick’s Day. If we still lived in a patriotic country, many companies would probably change their Facebook profile pictures to incorporate the American flag in the background; even if for just a couple of days.  After all, many companies attempted to demonstrate their “wokeness” by changing their Facebook profile pictures to incorporate the pride flag in the month of June.  Strangely, many liberals cannot seem to bear the thought of having to look at the American flag.

The flag should serve as a symbol of unity; as a country of more than 300 million people, very few symbols and ideas remain that actually unite Americans.  The pride flag definitely does not serve as a symbol of unity; as a substantial amount of the American people do not support same-sex marriage, which the flag has come to represent.  These companies did not seem to care.  Oreo apparently did not get the memo that Pride Month has come to an end.  Just this week, Oreo announced the rollout of a special edition of cookies with the tagline “Share Your Pronouns With Pride,” with the goal of “lecturing children about how to use transgender pronouns.” This decision by Oreo should not have come as a surprise. After all, back in 2012, the company “posted an Oreo with six layers of cream –one for each color of the rainbow flag—along with the caption ‘Proudly support love!’” Apparently, Oreo did not realize that their decision to unveil PC cookies coincided with America’s birthday.  It would have made much more sense for Oreo to release a special edition of red, white and blue cookies but it looks like they just could not resist the lure of corporate liberalism.

For a while, it looked like Nike might have had the guts to stand up to the PC police by releasing a line of sneakers with the Betsy Ross flag design; the original American flag with 13 stripes and 13 stars.  However, their de facto CEO, Colin Kaepernick, objected to the fact that the shoe company would dare celebrate the flag, since slavery existed at the time of its creation.  Nike complied with Kaepernick’s demands and pulled the sneakers. Using Kaepernick’s logic, we might as well disregard the Constitution as well; since slavery existed at the time of its ratification. For the record, President Obama did not seem to have a problem with the Betsy Ross flag; which he displayed at both of his inauguration ceremonies. As for the talking points sputtered by the left about Neo-Nazis adopting the Betsy Ross flag, even the Anti-Defamation League pushed back on that nonsense; describing it as “an innocuous historical flag,” adding “it’s not a thing in the white supremacist movement.”

Nike’s bow to Kaepernick should not have come as that much of a surprise.  After all, last year it became the former quarterback’s sponsor, releasing an ad featuring Kaepernick with the tagline “Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.”  Rather than sucking up to a man who wore socks depicting police officers as pigs, perhaps Nike should have instead released an ad featuring a picture of Pat Tillman with the same tagline.  Tillman served as an NFL player before leaving to serve in the War in Iraq; a decision that ultimately cost him his life, which literally equates to “everything.” His decision to give his life serving the country he loves effectively makes him the exact opposite of Kaepernick. 

Kaepernick became a household name when he refused to stand for the national anthem to protest police brutality.  Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas had an eloquent message for Kaepernick and others triggered by the Betsy Ross flag: “If you’re offended by a shoe celebrating the flag of the American Revolution, it’s a good indication that you may be better off living in a permanent safe space. Or Cuba.” In the past, legendary football coach Mike Ditka has offered up similar advice to those who have problems with America: “get the hell out.”   

While Kaepernick’s athletic career appears to have secured a place in the ash heap of history, soccer player Megan Rapinoe has taken his torch and become the flagship (pun intended) anti-American athlete. Rapinoe has refused to stand for the national anthem and has indicated that she would refuse to partake if President Trump invited the US Women’s National Soccer Team to the “f***ing White House.” Previous groups of athletes have had a blast when they have gone to the White House; most notably, they have had the opportunity to enjoy a fast food feast. Anti-Trump fever appears to have spread like wildfire throughout the USWNT, with teammate Ali Krieger telling CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that she too would refuse an invitation to the White House. Perhaps Rapinoe and Krieger should take the advice of actress Kristy Swanson, who delivered a message to Rapinoe on Twitter: “I personally did not vote for prez Bill Clinton & I did not agree with him in many ways, but when I was invited to the White House I still went with pride and honor. #BeBig & #BeGreat.”  A picture of Swanson shaking hands with Clinton accompanied the tweet. 

As the events of last year prove, liberals don’t just have a problem with the Betsy Ross flag; they appear to have an animus against the current American flag as well.  A pizzeria owner in New Paltz, New York became the target of the liberal mob when she dared to suggest painting an American flag mural over the graffiti-covered wall on the outside of her business. As Fox News reported, “some in the community were offended by the idea because the mural is across from a middle school and would force the kids to look at the American flag, which they call a symbol of hatred and oppression.” One of the pizzeria owner’s friends set up an “American flag appreciation walk” in response to liberals’ whining. Not surprisingly, Antifa, which might want to change its name to Anti-America, showed up at the event with signs with catchphrases such as “No Borders, No Nations,” “Stop Pretending Your Racism is Patriotism,” and “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” For the record, the mural had absolutely no reference to President Trump.  Just days before its completion, the mural faced vandalism, likely at the hands of a member of the anti-American mob.

The contempt for the American flag should not come as a surprise given the commentary of some of the people who hold a tremendous amount of power and influence in the country. During a speech last year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that “America was never that great” in an attempt to refute the need to “Make America Great Again.”  The New York Times, the chosen newspaper of most of #TheResistance, came out with a video dismissing the idea of America as a “great country,” arguing that the phrase “just O.K.” more accurately describes the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Salon, a blatantly left-wing website, published an article titled “Fourth of July’s ugly truth exposed: The Declaration of Independence is sexist, racist, prejudiced.” Increasingly, the two publications seem to have very little that distinguishes them from one another.

Speaking of the Declaration of Independence, the city of Charlottesville has decided to throw one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence under the bus.  Ironically, the PC bubble in central Virginia has decided to target the man who founded the Charlottesville-based University of Virginia in the first place: Thomas Jefferson.  The city of Charlottesville announced this week that it would no longer celebrate Jefferson’s birthday, April 13, as an official city holiday.  It does not quite make sense why they would make this decision nine months before Jefferson’s birthday; other than to help support the forces of the anti-American revolution. 

All of this anti-Americanism appears to have rubbed off on the American public.  A recently released poll from Gallup showed that 70 percent of Americans identify as “proud” or “extremely proud” to be an American, the lowest percentage since Gallup first began conducting the survey in 2001.  Perhaps as a result of Trump Derangement Syndrome, only 22 percent of Democrats identify as “extremely proud” to be an American.  Even with President Obama in charge, Republicans’ level of patriotism did not drop.

In honor of the Fourth of July, advice columnist E. Jean Carroll told Vox that “the world is a very, very merry place without men.” While idiots like Carroll, who represent the most radical strain of feminism, like to dismiss men as unnecessary, the United States or even humanity would not exist without men.  Men like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington played an instrumental role in securing America’s independence from the British crown and women like Betsy Ross also contributed to the effort by sewing an American flag for the new country.  In reality, a society needs both men and women to survive. Apparently, Carroll failed high school biology. After all, without men, she would not exist because the creation of new life requires sperm and egg to join together.  Only men can produce sperm and only women can produce eggs; no matter how much liberals try to drill warped gender ideology into the skulls of the American people, biology still prevails.  Carroll has also suggested sending men to “retraining camps,” allowing women to rule the world while men learn to shed their “toxic masculinity.” Liberals often use the excuse “we need more people” as an excuse to justify open borders.  Yet with men at “retraining camps,” America would literally “need more people”, as the repopulation of the country would come to a screeching halt. 

Let’s review how not to celebrate the Fourth of July: (1) don’t pull patriotic sneakers from the market to appease an Anti-American athlete, (2) don’t kneel during the National Anthem, (3) don’t diss the author of the Declaration of Independence that made America possible in the first place, and (4) don’t suggest putting men into “retraining camps.” While the freedom we enjoy gives people the right to do these things, it definitely doesn’t mean they should.