history, photography, politics, tanka

July 4, Then and Now

Started in 1776!
|Flag waved in fresh breeze.
|Holding truths self-evident,
|a nation broke free.
|~ ~ ~ ~
|Our dream fought to be real, with
|liberty and justice for all.

IMG_7742_rot-4.1_crop_flip_840x839 LimpFlag_flip_crop.1_sat-70_eclps+15_blem_840x1124

Ended soon after 2025?
|Limp flag.  Stifling heat.
|None but straight white wealthy males
|created equal.
|~ ~ ~ ~
|Fascist crook will make it so,
|if we all submit to him.

With some revisions, the pair of tanka that I posted for Independence Day in 2024 is still all-too appropriate now, half a year into Trump 2.0.
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history, photography, politics

Independence Day – 2 Tanka

Started in 1776!
|Flag waves in fresh breeze.
|Holding truths self-evident,
|our nation slogs on.
|~ ~ ~ ~
|The dream fights to be real, with
|liberty and justice for all.

IMG_7742_rot-4.1_crop_flip_840x839 LimpFlag_flip_crop.1_sat-70_eclps+15_blem_840x1124

Ended in 2024?
|Limp flag.  Stifling heat.
|None but straight white wealthy males
|created equal.
|~ ~ ~ ~
|Fascist crook will make it so,
|if the voters let him win.

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– above post (on phone) or beside it (on desktop). –
history, politics

Independence Day, 2019

It’s a pardonable oversimplification: celebrating “the” day the Continental Congress held some truths to be self-evident.  Yes, they were all privileged white males.  Yes, some lived off the toil of slaves.  But their concept of public service was not based on pandering to bigotry and whoring for campaign contributions.
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Knowingly or not, the signers of the Declaration of Independence started something big, still far from finished, and now critically endangered.  They started the long hard slog to build a nation with liberty and justice for all.

336541 - flag and fireworks,

© Scott David Patterson | 123RF Stock Photo

Happy July 4th!