Reflecting on the 4th

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Great words. We fought a war to obtain these Rights, but not for all. Not for women, not for Slaves, not for Indians and usually not for the poor of any type. We made this country with our blood and we are still shedding our blood to tear it down. I see Civil War recreations every year. Is the South hoping that this time they will win? Is the North hoping to drive home the point of their victory? There is NO GLORY in the Civil War. 620,000 Americans died for the issue of states rights, a concept that means nothing in our mobile age when people grow up one place and live in another and interconnect with Skype all over the world. The Civil War should be a point of universal shame. A time when the smartest people in the country could not put their personal attitudes aside and do something for the greater good.

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, they didn't need a revolution. They were living very comfortably but they put aside their comfort and their differences to try and create something better, and they succeeded. The lives of every person lost in the Civil War should be honored by their families and their neighbors, but we must stop this travesty that this was a noble thing on either side. It had some very economic not moral issues at its heart, helped by England's desire not to lose the cheap cotton to the industrial north. Let us put aside Blue and Gray, put them in a museum as a tribute to the foolishness of men and have one day a year where we reflect upon 620,000 of our best that died and 408,000 that were injured in a war that should not have happened. Let us try and raise to the noble ideals of our founders and start to create a country where All People are Created Equal and have the opportunity for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Happy 4th of July.