Yesterday, Facebook launched a new, bizarrely Orwellian campaign cautioning users that they may have been exposed to “extremism” based on articles and comments shared by their friends. Most everyone I know received this helpful warning. Congressman Thomas Massie also points out that posts including the hashtag #revolution are being “temporarily hidden” from your view in ongoing efforts to “keep our community safe.”
So, the word “revolution” has been temporarily banned.
On the Fourth of July.
Really.
All this nonsense got me thinking of the non-censored meaning of The Fourth, one of my favorite celebrations of the year. I love the sense of community, the fireworks, and the grilling of steaks with friends. And all the beer. But we all could do that on any other weekend this summer, petty lockdown authoritarians willing that is, with the same sense of joy.
What really matters to me, on this particular day, is the inspiration and unstoppable power of “The Spirit of ’76.”
It’s in our bones. That unquenchable, uniquely American sense of human liberty.
Thomas Jefferson, an “extremist” and “revolutionary,” then and now, explains best what I mean:
Of everything he accomplished in his life, Jefferson was most proud of this part of his legacy, The Spirit of ’76. It’s an ethos that defines America to this day—the bottom up, never ending pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. It is the core of what it means to live life as an America. It’s yours, this ethos, to cherish or waste. But it’s not yours to take from me, or anyone else, the never-ending pursuit, imperfect and incomplete, of being American.
At Free the People, we channel The Spirit of ’76, and the hard work of every American who passed along this unique America legacy, in everything we do. I know you do too, so I wanted to let you know, on this Fourth of July, that you are not alone. And that the “security of self government” promised by Jefferson will never die as long as you and I fight for it.
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