Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston
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Friday, July 3, 2015
FAIL: These Americans Don't Know Why We Celebrate the 4th of July.
To be fair, these sort of interviews that ask Americans questions about American history never show the people who got the answers right. That wouldn't be fun to watch. But the number of people in this video who don't know who we became independent from, the date of our independence, or even why we celebrate July 4 is appalling.
"Officially, the Continental Congress declared its freedom from Britain on July 2, 1776, when it approved a resolution and delegates from New York were given permission to make it a unanimous vote. John Adams thought July 2 would be marked as a national holiday for generations to come.
“The most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival… It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this continent to the other from this Time forward forever more,” Adams said about what he envisioned as a July 2nd national holiday."n --SOURCE
PS. Yay for the Italian guy. BTW, Italy is a younger unified country than is the United States. Italy achieved unification in 1871.
As we enjoy this 4th of July weekend celebrating the birth of America and its independence from Great Britain, keep in mind these words from Paul Weyrich, a religious conservative political activist who help found The Heritage Foundation, The Moral Majority, and ALEC:
"How many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo goo syndrome’? ‘Good government.’ They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
"And how effective have these efforts been? Consider Kansas’ last governor’s race as a case in point. Republican incumbent Sam Brownback – noted equally for both declaring a religious “Day of Restoration” holiday in his state and for tax cuts that left Kansas in financial shambles – faced Democrat Paul Davis, who was endorsed by over 100 Republican elected officials who couldn’t tolerate Brownback’s policies.
In that election year, 23,782 Kansans had their voting rights suspended due to a new “proof of citizenship” law. Another estimated 17,000 couldn’t vote because they didn’t have an approved state-issued ID. That’s over 40,000 registered voters in Kansas who were disenfranchised on Election Day ’14. And by how many votes did Brownback win re-election that year? 33,052."
--SOURCE
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8 comments:
I would say it is disgusting. Someone ought to be seriously questioning the state of education in American history.
Posted today on Facebook.
With mention of Progressive Eruptions.
Well, American schools don't exactly do a stellar job of teaching history...
"Well, American schools don't exactly do a stellar job of teaching history..."
True. But how does an American manage to reach adulthood and not know what Independence Day means and from which country we achieved independence. I mean, we celebrate July 4th every year! Wouldn't a sentient being be curious about why we celebrate that particular date?
I think I answered my own question.
Also, why do people giggle at their own ignorance?
A beautiful essay by Joan Walsh at Salon:
As Fox News mourns, the rest of us have an Independence Day to celebrate
I don't know who the people are at the Daily Caller, but it's a good bet that they're a bunch of pathetic gowls and blithering gobshites.
They detected a certain style of undershirt through the white shirt President Obama was wearing while speaking at a rally in Wisconsin.
Here's how the stupids at the Daily Caller blog reported it:
Barack Obama, Wife Beater [PHOTOS]
When we claim that the certain people on the right have been in a delirium of hate for the past 6 1/2 years, that's not an attack; that's the truth.
Are you sure you embedded the right video? I didn't see any questions about the war of independence (or an Italian guy).
Yikes. I lost the link and then thought I re-imbedded it. Thanks for the heads-up. I embedded the wrong link. Will correct it now.
It's a holiday weekend. Many interruptions.
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