You Can't Take My America Away; or Me Out of America
You Can't Take My America Away; or Me Out of America
"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." - John Adams
July 4, 2024
Dear John,
Sorry, I messed up?
Love, Chris
I have been a blogger since 2008. I always write something on the 4th of July. How proud I am to be an American. How our past patriots bring me pride and inspiration. How remarkable our history has been. It’s never been a day that I did anything other than celebrate what we have and how we got here. Oh, I do criticize my country, often. But not on the 4th of July.
This year I do not think we have anything to celebrate. I do not.
When Biden won in 2020, I remember having an argument in the car with someone close to me at the time. He was singing the praises of how we were back on track. I didn’t agree. I was foreshadowing what I thought was a misguided notion that DT was the problem. Or that he couldn’t come back. That the work was ahead of us. I said we are not anywhere near out of the woods. I was not celebrating.
He attacked.
“We just have to have faith and see what happens! Let it unfold. Give it time. You are always so negative. Stop.” But he did more than that. He indicated that I had no agency. I had no power over what was going to happen. And I lived for the next year or two without paying attention to the news or my country’s situation.
And now, almost four years later, here we are. Over the past few months, I’ve lost sleep. I’ve seen my blood pressure go up when I look at something online. I’ve been afraid they are going to take it all away from me, but even more important, they could take what I have known my whole life away from my child, my fabulous daughter Sarah, who has dedicated her life to her country and other causes she champions. Everything that I have celebrated all this time. Everything that I have believed for more than seventy years. Poof.
I believe…
That all men are created equal.
That I am smart enough to take care of my body in the best way possible … for me and for any offspring I choose to bring into the world. (Ok, I will admit that I am powerless over Diet Coke, but in the larger sense, I do not believe that I need someone to ban me from buying it.)
That I know what books to buy for my own growth and pleasure.
That the law is something I can count on.
I was starting to suffer. My work. My sleep. My joy was not to be found. But I had an epiphany yesterday, and I’m good to go.
DT might get elected. He might. But my America, the one based on the Declaration of Independence (shown below for your reading pleasure with your friends and family today while eating hot dogs and hamburgers), is still my guide for how to meet my obligations to my country in the future.
How I behave is what makes me an American, not the corrupt Supreme Court, or a possible president who has not one ounce of honor in him. Or laws made by corrupt, greedy politicians and judges who are not making law based on our foundational guidelines. And while the masses during the Nazi regime didn’t have the resources I have to stay on track, I do have them. And I will use them.
So I have nothing to fear. I will fight in my own way.
I will drive to Texas and be part of the abortion underground already working.
I will buy banned books and take them to Florida and leave them in malls.
I will tell someone when I think they are wrong. As quietly as I can. (Not always easy.)
I will continue to live respecting the rule of law.
I will continue to seek out informed, accurate sources to help me determine my conclusions.
I slept like a baby last night.
Thomas Jefferson, who was the principal author of the Declaration, warned us against complacency, which is what we have been. I, Christine Merser, have been complacent about my obligation to the country. Celebrating 4th of Julys over and over again, without any investment in making sure our foundation as a country was safe is not only hubris and lazy, it’s dangerous. Jefferson believed that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Sorry. I missed that memo.
My fellow Americans, we stand on the shoulders of giants—men and women who sacrificed much to ensure that the promise that independence would endure for us and the children we choose to bring into this world.
The time for “let’s see how it unfolds" is over.
The Declaration of Independence is a call to action; it is not a painting to visit on your seventh-grade trip to DC. It is a reminder that democracy is not a spectator sport. It requires active participation and a collective commitment to its ideals.
We have not done our job. Today is not a day to only eat hot dogs, light sparklers, and see fireworks. It’s a day to sit down with our families and ask what we can do right now for our country, not what our country can do for us.
The choice belongs to each of us. I made mine yesterday. I was on the phone with my friend Carol last night, while she was driving from Nebraska to her home in Missouri. Three hours. We celebrated the idea that if we live our lives the way we believe is right, and we stop focusing on the media, which is all about following the money, we can do good and live well.
So, today, I start with this blog. I am a proud American. There are many like-minded Americans who will start being vigilant in our support of what the Declaration of Independence gives us.
Enjoy the day. Rest up. It’s going to be a journey.