In 1776 on July the Fourth, the colonies ratified a groundbreaking document, they were going to secede from a tyrannical government. As we all very well know, this was done successfully and has forever become a day we as Americans are obligated to celebrate by gorging ourselves with tubular meat and igniting colorful explosives on the ground and in the sky. This day is indubitably important – it was a significant and very strong rejection of a state the people deemed unfair and hostile. The unfortunate bit is this: this day has been seized by the federal government and the ignorant masses. It is a day of patriotism now, not remembrance.

No doubt we will be bombarded with the colors of Old Glory – red, white and blue everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean both physical and digital manifestations. Social media will be drenched with the ignorance of misguided nationalism, most businesses will honor increased military discounts for those that “protect” us, and everyone will do their damndest to out-America each other with their wardrobe. We’ll even see shirts boasting about America being “two-time World War champions”. The entire day has been hijacked, the ideas behind the day have so clearly been forgotten and replaced with government and military worship.

The day is sure to be full of salutes and the obligatory thanking of anyone donning their military getup. In the minds of many, this day is the day to honor America and its heroes. It’s a day to celebrate freedom and to wear our nation on our backs both literally and metaphorically. What people seem to forget, though, is the American Secession was not an event which took place to create a new nation, but to destroy our ties with one. The goal was not only to destroy our ties with the nation, but to destroy the people that intended to push that nation onto us. This is not a day of nationalism, but one of separatist thought. Freedom in 1776 did not mean to honor those that take it away. Our modern day celebration of independence is the equivalent of George Washington paying his respects to the Red Coats and screaming “All hail King George” while waving the flag of the Empire drunk off his private batch of homemade whiskey.

Today’s patriots are the loyalists of our time. History and how we learn it has been warped in such a way that many believe those who fought for freedom from the empire were the first heroes of modern America and what it stands for in the modern context. People actually believe the previous iteration of America greatly resembles the current one. They believe this so deeply that if we were to ask anyone in the country right this moment whether they would have been a loyalist or a patriot in the time of the Revolution, I’d venture to guess nearly 100% of those people would say, with gusto, a patriot.

Truth is, most people now would absolutely be loyalists to the British Empire. Why? Because the military of then would have protected their freedoms by overtaking any country with a dissenting opinion. The Empire would have provided them with roads, a country to live in and peace of mind that their military was no doubt the greatest of them all. The Empire would have provided their need of certain social services and a justice system so great it’s involuntary. They would’ve believed King George when he told them America was ungrateful for all the blessings he had bestowed upon them. They would have been quick to hate these patriots for not honoring the country that has done so much for them. They would have called them reckless anarchist rebels. They would have regarded them as terrorists once the fighting started and celebrated their deaths.

The idea of casting away an oppressive regime was a common one among those that led the rebellion. America as a concept was one they only enjoyed because it was, at that time, what they had fought for. Just as soon as America had become oppressive, I have no doubt these people would have been quick to cast it away. The problem is that the idea of America now invokes an emotional response in many. They sing its anthem, salute its flag and wear its colors. Any proposal that America might not be what we want it to be is met with staunch disagreement purely out of emotion. If we go on to say we want to reject the current system altogether we’re often told we should just leave while getting a flag waved in our face.

When will enough be enough for these people? When will America lose its luster to the modern day patriots? What, other than the bombing of its own people blatantly and on a grand scale, would prompt the public to realize the American Government is one that does not have our best interests in mind?

Even so, just as yesterday and the day before, business will continue as usual. The American people will continue to accept what’s given to them because it’s all they know. They’ll continue to insist we have a say in government in the form of voting and we just have to trust things will work out. We’ll all continue to see flag waving, veteran idolatry and rampant ignorance on what freedom and liberty actually mean. This is the reality in which we live, this is a country of loyalists.

-Jon Quill