(no subject)

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I know this from memory (thank you, Schoolhouse Rock). I am proud of my country and my constitution, and I am really proud of our Bill of Rights, which affords us all in this country the right to free speech. I am not embarrassed to say I am patriotic, especially now that I have a government I respect much more than any in my adulthood.

Is my country (and its citizens) perfect? No. We probably never will be because of that whole pesky human nature thing. I still don't want to live anywhere else but here. This is my country.

And now to balance out the patriotic fervor with a little protest song (which many don't realize is a protest song), This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie.

Is this land made for you and me? The tools - our historical documents, our right to vote, our right to speak out against what we feel is wrong - are there. But we have to use them. It is our right and our privilege.

Now, go set off a firecracker and eat some pie! Happy Fourth of July, fellow Americans! And Happy Saturday to everyone else!