It’s the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (kind of, mostly) and I’m just not feeling it this year. Is it just me, or do things seem kind of “off” in the United States these days? Can’t put my finger on it.
Normally I try to do my optimistic thing where I stress that it’s the idea of the country that we celebrate, not the reality of it. I even made a go of it at the end of May.
But it seems especially hollow now, when ICE raids are still happening all across a nation founded by immigrants, and built on the idea of welcoming anyone who wants to participate in the ideals of the country, regardless of their ethnicity. We keep hearing story after story of people who’ve been living and working in this country for years, who keep being betrayed by this country’s corrupt government. Often abducted and taken from their homes and families while they’re reporting to immigration offices, trying to do it the so-called “right” way.
It’s an atrocity every day, but especially on a day where the perpetrators wrap themselves in the flag and claim to celebrate freedom and opportunity.
And it’s especially hollow when you actually read the Declaration of Independence — I haven’t myself in years, since Schoolhouse Rock made me more a fan of the Constitution — and notice how many of the “repeated injuries and usurpations” committed by King George are going on today, in broad daylight, not just defended but brazenly celebrated by some of the shittiest people ever to walk the planet.
Hot dogs and fireworks aren’t going to smooth over the problems of this country, and neither will voting for the self-interested, ineffectual dipshits who’ve spent the past several years telling us they’re our only hope.
Memo to Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and the rest of the uselessly centrist, corporate-sponsored Democrats who’ve utterly failed to meet the moment: “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” Maybe if a wave of progressivism, if not outright Democratic socialism, takes hold this fall, we might be able to start digging our way out without having to resort to the “abolish” option.1In case it’s not abundantly clear, this also goes for all the limp-dicks who talk about “reforming” ICE and the DHS instead of abolishing it.
This morning I watched a video from Jackie of the Superenthused channel, as I often do, and saw all of the stuff that Epcot at Walt Disney World is doing to celebrate the 250th this 4th of July weekend. A lot of it, unsurprisingly, was around The American Adventure pavilion — meet and greets with the characters in colonial costumes, the Voices of Liberty performing (which is always pretty fantastic, in that something so corny and shamelessly patriotic can still give you goosebumps), and much of the American Adventure show.
That show is an impressive achievement in animatronics and stagecraft more than anything else, honestly. It does come closer than anything else I’ve seen at actually acknowledging the country’s long history of injustices and outright atrocities, even though it still mostly skips lightly along the surface.
It’s in that weird middle ground of not deep enough and also not shallow enough. If it were deeper, and actually tried to tackle any of American history head-on, it would be a downer for a theme park and frankly inappropriate. But it’s also not shallow or abstract enough to be “what America means to you is what’s important.”
There is one detail in the American Adventure pavilion that I’ve always noticed, though, and only really appreciated this year. In the lobby, there are all of these paintings on the walls, interspersed with notable quotes from people like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, etc. One of them is from Ayn Rand.
I don’t remember what the actual quote is, because Ayn Rand sucks and produced nothing of value to offer to any decent human being. But I always remember its being there, interrupting the vibe of inspiration and opportunity and optimism with a big, stinky, wet fart.
It’s always seemed so out of place, and I wondered why anybody in Imagineering thought it was appropriate to put there. I never looked into it, because I preferred not to acknowledge the possibility that there were proud objectivists lurking behind the creation of a place I loved so much.
Now that I think about it, though, it is kind of perfect for a pavilion all about the American experience. For one thing, it’s a reminder that America has always been full of immigrants, both good and bad, who came here to seek opportunity. Many of them actually built the country. Some of them did nothing but reassure generations of mediocre white men that they were, in fact, Very Special Boys, and that everything they’d accomplished was solely the result of their own unique gifts.
And it’s also a reminder that it’s impossible to think of America, even at its most abstract, patriotic, and maudlin ideal, without also remembering that some of it is really shitty. Something to look forward to when we celebrate the 251st!
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