Seems obvious, but it could have been different. When Congress adopted the Monday holiday act, the Fourth of July could have been moved to the first Monday in July. This year that would have been Monday, July 1, which is Canada Day, and both countries could have celebrated together – the US celebrating their break from Great Britain, Canada celebrating the creation of the Dominion of Canada within the British Empire. In other words, they would have jointly celebrated totally opposing ideas and realities. Yet, both countries (obviously with significant differences, many if not most, I am afraid, favoring Canada) came out of their opposite experiences pretty much the same and quite friendly with each other.

I know there has been a lot of alternative history written over the years. Generally in that regard, you think of “If the South Had Won the Civil War” kind of topics. I can’t say that I have ever seen any books titled “If the Colonists Had Just Stuck with Britain”, but it is something that I have thought of now and then. What if there had been no Lexington or Concord, no Tea Party, no Revolutionary War? What would North America be like today?

Obviously, there is no reliable answer to this question. If the British colonies in North America had remained British colonies, things might have been quite different. Would France still control the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Purchase never been a purchase? Would Mexico have to this day extended to the Oregon border. Would Spanish Florida remained outside of English speaking North America? Would slavery have ended more quickly than it did, and without a war with 600,000 dead? On the other hand, would wars between the various North American nations have pock marked our history? Would Prince Harry have had to go into exile somewhere else?

So many questions.

But here we are, the most powerful country on Earth, and perhaps today one of the most emotionally unsettled. By winning that war against the Brits in the late 18th century, we got pretty full of ourselves, I would say. By having so much land, and being separated by so much water from potential military rivals, we got to think of ourselves as a bit more clever than we were, perhaps. And of course that has carried over until today. American exceptionalism, in spite of the fact that there is little exceptional about us and, in fact, to the extent that our politics make us exceptional, they may make us exceptional in ways that should not make us proud. I saw a report today that, because of the economic doldrums in which Britain finds itself today, many young Brits would consider moving outside their country. There was a list of 28 countries that I saw, giving potential British emigrants the pros and cons of each. Add them all together and the United States ranked 28th out of the 28.

C-Span was interesting this morning, as their callers were asked about “patriotism”. Most did not define patriotism as waving a flag or grilling a hot dog, but rather as serving one another, treating one another humanely, looked out to each other as a collective to which each of us belongs. This of course is not our current ethos. Spurred on by ex-president You Know Who, we are each out for ourselves, divided we stand.

Those who was the debate witnessed not only Joe Biden’s sleepy performance and Donald Trump’s collection of falsehoods, but the realization that, with 330,000,000 exceptional citizens, this is the best we could do in 2024. Yet, with the Judiciary and particularly the Supreme Court taking over all policy direction for our government, our President may become less important overall. And, as Trump spins out lie after lie, as Biden apparently deceives all of us regarding his physical and mental condition, and the Supreme Court fools us by claiming to be originalists in the way they interpret our constitutional rights while they simply seem to sugar coat whatever they would like to see the country be as if it were historic necessity.

I recently read a biography of James Madison, the fourth US president, and the primary author of so many of the founding documents which the originalists have converted to Gospel. So much of what happened in those days, in the various constitutional conventions and everything that led up to them, was accidental, compromise, reached in frustration. Why these documents should become holy and untouchable, and why they should override the benefit of the people, is beyond me.

As usual, when I sit down to write this blog, I have no idea what will come out. What’s worse, I have no idea when I should stop and say “fini”. Now?

Fini.