July 4th Semiquincentennial Thoughts

Richard Rathe, July 4 2026 (History)

A Celebration Deferred (Draft)

I put out my American Flag today. I've decided to only fly the flag on special days and this is one of them. Thinking about what makes this day special is what gives the act meaning. One cannot be patriotic every day, but that's not required. We need days like this to think hard about history (those actions and actors who mattered), the present (our current situation and how it differs from what it should be), and the future (the history we might make during the time remaining to us).

Consider this photograph from 1976. You can tell that the people are happy—happy to be there, happy to be with others, happy to belong to a whole. From many one.

They are in the process of building a human pyramid with the obvious intention of flying the flag from the top. Enough of the flag is visible that it can be identified as the Bennington version with the large numerals 76 at the center of the blue field.

Consider the crowd. They had a lot of friends there to back them up!

Preparing to Fly the Flag (July 4, 1976) Source: DC Public Library

Visit History Collection for more photographs of the 1976 celebration.

My Thoughts in 1976

In 1976 I participated in the Bikecentennial—an organized bike trip across the US. I went as an Independent—traveling with various people I met along the way, or solo when paths diverged.

We celebrated the Fourth of July sleeping out on my college friend's parent's deck, in a valley above Missoula, MT. I was a somewhat callow (and politically naive) young man trying to make sense of the world.

Here we are on the Fourth of July and what of it?… My friends at school were going to leave the country for fear of the fourth and here it is, the day itself and nothing more. (quote, quote) I was thinking the 200th birthday might give people pause, might make people aware of how young and old this country is, and try and get in touch with what the day has to teach. Some pretty far out people started this country and some pretty far out people live here now. It's terrible how the beauty of the people and lands of this country can be hidden so easily at times. It used to be that I abhorred people for what they did to the natural world. Now I think I can see man's place a little bit better and I don't recoil from his use of the world as much as his abuse of himself. The most important thing the founding fathers saw was that people should be given an environment which would lead them not into abuse and futility, but on to growth and happiness. (Journal Entry July 4, 1976)

I can't recall what the (performative?) notion of leaving the country was responding to. Perhaps the draft. I have to laugh at the phrase far out—did I really talk that way?! Looking back I can remember the sense of not understanding how the world worked and my place in it. I was trying to sort things out. Trying to write something profound. I think I came close by the last sentence.

For context this was just after the first Oil Crisis & Watergate; the struggles for Civil Rights; near the peak of the Vietnam War; and deep in the Cold War with its attendant Nuclear Dread. My friends and I were particularly concerned about protecting the Environment. That's why we were on bicycles! 🙂

It occurs to me now why my bicycle was so important. Given the list above, there were not many things I could do personally to end the war or avert disaster. But I could choose my mode of transportation. I could choose to use less energy. My bicycle gave me agency. It also gave me a peer group and a sense of belonging. It helped shape who I became.

My Thoughts in 2026

I have to mark this year as disappointed but hopeful.

I'm disappointed that a banal grifter—the Short-Fingered Vulgarian—Donald Trump is in charge. Or at least he thinks he is. He's not actually that effective as a dictator. He's too worldly and vacuous to provide any vision beyond self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. He's a narcissist but not a true sociopath (in my opinion). We got lucky!

Assuming the voters give us a course correction in November, he will be remembered as a failed authoritarian. And as such he is a symptom, not the disease. But as any good doctor would remark, Proper treatment depends accurate diagnosis.

This is the best analysis I've heard for our current circumstances:

There are Gamers who wish to game the system for their own ends. These are a small minority who wish to make themselves more powerful—economically and socially. Senator Mitch McConnell and Elon Musk are good examples. Follow the money!

There are Breakers who wish to tear things down. This group is much larger and much more diverse. Membership is fluid, but Breakers share certain characteristics that make them vulnerable to manipulation by the Gamers: real economic and social problems; a sense that the system is working against them; a sense that others have jumped the line ahead of them; a sense of victimhood; a sense of fear, anger, etc.

The Gamers have always manipulated the Breakers to some degree (consider the Contested Election of 1876 for example).

Still working on this…

https://groundwater.transistor.fm/episodes/the-countrys-memory-jimi-hendrix-strange-fruit-and-american-music-at-250

Jimi Hendrix played The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock in 1969 and let the war in around the melody.

This is a slide!