Ordinary People: The Irony of July 4th, 2025
"Remember, Remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists." Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States
“We have been reminded that it is among ORDINARY PEOPLE that the sublime qualities are found: fortitude, bravery, kindness, honesty, and sacrifice.” Steve Schmidt
July 4th! Independence Day! America’s Birthday! Freedom from a despotic King, who ruled with a heavy hand over the Colonies. He revoked the Charter granting them the power of self-rule. Every ruling he imposed on the Colonists served to take away their right of self-rule. The Constitution declared, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!!!” The consummate document embodied the anger at the King’s power-grab initiatives and the resolute determination of the people of the Colonies to be a Country unto themselves.
Freedom has always been the franchise of our Constitutionally created Nation. The great National Anthems of our times have always been odes of praise to the Freedom we experienced in America.
An AI Overview of the Constitutional phrase, “of the people, by the people, for the people follows:
“The phrase "of the people, by the people, for the people" means that a government's power and legitimacy come from its citizens (of the people), that the government is run by the citizens (by the people), and that the government exists to serve the citizens' interests (for the people). It is a core principle of democracy, emphasizing popular sovereignty and citizen participation in governance.
This highlights that the government's authority originates from the citizens, who are the source of political power.
This emphasizes that the government is not imposed from above but is established and maintained through the will and participation of the people, often through elected representatives.
This signifies that the purpose of government is to serve the interests and well-being of the citizens, not the interests of a select few.”1
It has been a privilege to live in a Nation that, through our system of Democracy, has allowed us to live lives free from oppression, lives full of opportunity, live lives under a law that declares us all equal.
Yesterday’s passage of Trump’s Reconciliation Bill portends a very different Country to come. Simply put, the bill and the agenda of the Trump administration aim to completely reverse the dynamics of our Constitutional America. Six months of actions from the Trump presidency confirm which way he wants to direct America. It is a gut punch to all that is righteous in the Constitution.
Large communities or cultural subsets of America have been judged and deemed by Trump as sub-human, non-human, or animals. The Bill that just passed proves that our elite government has invalidated their right to be counted. The cruelest program, Deportation, has made millions of Ordinary People prey for blood-thirsty ICE thugs to hunt and trap. At that point, a detainee can anticipate brutality, neglect, and mercilessness. With exponential funding written into the new bill to staff and build prisons, the presence of ICE will be overwhelming.
Americans used to look after one another, and the government created programs to meet the needs of those in need. Our hearts held true to the maxim, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Under Trump, it is “every man for himself.” Trump takes that seriously and exploits every opportunity to lavish himself with riches and adoration. It is a philosophy that has infected the ethos of our County.
With great fanfare, Trump will sign his “Big, Beautiful Bill” under a spectacular fireworks display, cynically touting America and Patriotism. We know he doesn’t care about America or its people. The irony of flipping the trajectory of a once-revered and honorable Nation to a Country increasingly despised and inhumane has cancelled the meaning of our July 4th celebration. Today is a big, empty nothingburger…
The Resistance has internalized the former glory of America. Flooding the streets and cities in increasing numbers, they are out to create some “good trouble.” As the countdown to the vote on the Bill narrowed, Democrats serving in the House rose up and finally exhibited some righteous indignation. The gravity of the moment was finally hitting home. Some bellies ignited with the fire that will devastate what Trump has created.
“Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers’ enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in ourselves and in others.” ― Simone Weil
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