Happy 4th
2006-07-04 21:11:20.360886+00 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Happy 4th! I rode the Corte Madera to Fairfax to Pine Mountain across Ridgecrest down into Mill Valley and back loop this morning with Gary and Mark, we pulled a reasonable 2:30 elapsed time, even waiting for Gary on the climbs (I say "even", but Mark has ridden three double centuries this year, and Gary's got his California Triple Crown jersey).
Then we got on a tandem and rode over to the Woodacre Fire Station for the pancake breakfast fundraiser, and hung out for the parade, chatted with friends and acquaintances, and made new ones. Someone commented that it was strange to see this much patriotism in Marin, by which I guess they meant the displays of Red White and Blue, but it got me thinking a bit.
It is living out here over the hill that's gotten me involved in "government". Not necessarily the organization that we vote for, but the nitty-gritty of "who's gonna fix the road" and "what do we do if there's a disaster", and while "patriotic" has as its roots echoes of "the fatherland", there's nothing wrong with celebrating the ability of neighbors to work together.
But on that note, an expansion by "Bacchus" of ErosBlog in Susie Bright's interview of him leaped out at me recently:
As a free person, it's *your* job to figure out how to keep yourself safe. And if your answer is "government", that's code for "I want a gang of thugs to enslave others, take their stuff, and spend the proceeds to keep me safe." Criminal, ugly, violent, and morally bankrupt. Not for me, thanks.
So, yeah, "patriotism" as "rah rah for the fatherland!": I'm not a fan. But a celebration of the fact that we've got something really cool here, and that we are the government, or we've abdicated responsibility and deserve what we get, that we need. Regularly.
Therefore I'll urge every one of you to go re-read The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies and think about it a bit, and then think about what you can do so we can peacefully rectify where
... mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.