Stop Me Before I Vote Again

I'm with you on the fireworks and patriotism aspect of the 4th, but don't trash the document. It's inspired more than our own independence movement.
The shame is that we have now become the same as the hated English. And there's not a lick of independent spirit in the country -- only complacency and conformism.

let us not
forget patriot's day ....

when boston's patriots
stood alone and unafraid

and i might add....
armed and firing back

Or what about Parents Day? Commemorating the day that Parents gathered together in homemade tanks and F16s and overthrew the evil reign of Dr. Spock.

I agree with bobw. Don't forget how Ho Chi Min cited the language and the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence when he petitioned Woodrow Wilson for help in throwing the French out of Vietnam.

Also France's revolution was no less bourgeois in terms of its end product and certainly did not prevent them from advancing the ruling class' imperial interests. Far more important perhaps was WWII. The working class made far more gains there after that than ever before...correct me if I'm wrong about that though.

Tim, I think you're right about WW II -- more precisely the Keynesian method of paying for war and the post WW II economy. I also think that supports MJS's take on the Declaration. Noble sentiments are fine things to express. Paying for them and living up to them is far more meaningful. It saddens me that Ho Chi Minh's vision ended with Nike sweatshops and a tourist industry for gawking wingnuts.

op writes:

let us not
forget patriot's day ....

and i might add....
armed and firing back...

...until that day,
darkened forever
that the AFL folded

your dear Pats borged
into the NFL
just another goddamn'
AFC East outfit

What...?
oh!
never mind.

vito the babe
gino
young nike
earth quake
jim nance
tony romeo
and larry eisenhower
solute you mike

"Noble sentiments are fine things to express. Paying for them and living up to them is far more meaningful."

Certainly true. One could say the same about USSR's 1936 Constitution (drafted under Stalin's guidance). But I guess what I mean is that, no matter what the source (slave-owners or bloodthirsty dictators), noble statements are still capable of inspiring and even being co-opted.

And granted, some of France's post-WWII development was based on the typical center-periphery economic relationships it had with its colonies in Africa and Indochina, but nevertheless, working class French people did make some impressive advancements (as did the Brits and Germans) after WWII. That probably had something to do with their countries being razed to the ground. But once again, you're right that they are now hitting a brick wall in many ways due to the development schematic that they ultimately chose: managed capitalism.

sound of boat scraping a reef

"France's revolution was no less bourgeois in terms of its end product "

ugh TD ain't all end products that
can't sublate
clio's context
and
necessary pattern of dance steps