Happy Independence Day!

I don't know about you, but nothing says "Happy Independence Day" like a Schoolhouse Rock! song. Here are a few of my "Independence Day" favorites for you to enjoy.

 Happy Birthday, America!

The Boston Tea Party never sounded so good!

This next selection tells the story of famous battles with a catchy Jazz beat...

And my personal favorite...

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Film FridaySaturday: Patriotic Films

Earlier in the week, I set about trying to find a good patriotic film to review in honor of Independence Day. What I found was interesting.

You Say You Want A Revolution. . .

I began by looking for good movies about our founding. There should be dozens of movies about that right? Wrong. Hollywood has made fewer than a dozen films that deal with the American Revolution? The most famous of these are Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The Howards of Virginia (1940), 1776 (a musical) (1972), Sweet Liberty (a comedy) (1969), Revolution (1985), and The Patriot (2000). Hardly an inspiring lot.

And this isn’t just an issue of recent Hollywood cynicism. Even during Hollywood’s most patriotic era, between World War II and the early struggle against communism, few such films were made. Why?

Some say that audiences can’t sympathize with characters who wear powdered wigs and knee breeches, who use formal speech patterns and write with quills. But this hasn’t stunted the popularity of Shakespeare, or films about the British Kings and Queens, or even movies like Dangerous Liaisons or Sleepy Hollow. And surely civil war characters speak as formally and look as strangely.

Others say Americans aren’t interested in the topic. Good grief. These are some of the most popular topics on the History Channel and the recent mini-series about John Adams was extremely popular. Me thinks, dear Hollywood, the problem does not lie within the simplicity of the viewers, it lies with thee.

Everybody’s Got An Opinion. . .

Denied the chance to review a revolutionary picture, I stumbled upon something even better: a poll.

Blockbuster Video commissioned a poll a few years ago in which they asked Americans what they wanted in their patriot movies. Sixty-three percent wanted America or Americans portrayed as the underdogs. Forty percent felt that the President should be a main character. Thirty percent wanted the movie to involve a war hero.

Here are the top ten movies they chose as most patriotic:

1. Independence Day
2. Born on the Fourth of July
3. Yankee Doodle Dandy
4. Air Force One
5. Forrest Gump
6. Glory
7. Patton
8. Apollo 13
9. The American President
10. The Longest Day

But is this right? Are these really the best patriotic films? We at Commentarama think you can do a lot better.

A patriotic film should make viewers feel good about being American. It should highlight their country at its best. It should put forth a vision as to the meaning of the country, particularly one such as ours, which was formed intellectually rather than by historical accident. We exist as a nation because our founders thought about how we should live, not because we all fell out of the trees together 50,000 years ago.

So let’s go through the list and make some changes.

1. Independence Day

Independence Day fits our test. This is a story of American resourcefulness and determination, of a group of average Americans that answer the call of duty to defeat an all-powerful enemy. This film reminds us of the promise of our country, the goodness of our people, and the greatness we can achieve as a nation. This film reminds us that Americans rise to meet all challenges and it highlights the self-sacrifice so often repeated in our history.

And while this film is criticized because the President’s final speech is internationalist, don’t forget that he never subsumes America to the rest of the world, he asks them to step up and join us, as our Independence Day becomes their Independence Day.

2. Born of the Fourth of July How the West Was Won

This movie is a horrible choice. One wonders if people watched it, or just chose title. Born in the USA anyone?

Many people argue that a film can be patriotic if it rallies the country to a cause. Born on the 4th of July fits that category, as does All the President’s Men, which is also often named as a patriotic films.

But rallying people to a cause smacks of propaganda, not patriotism. It is one thing to highlight the best in our country and to take pride in our achievements, it is quite another to suggest that people must adopt a certain position to be patriotic.

So let us substitute How The West Was Won. This sprawling epic tells the tale of how America grew from a small nation of eastern states to became the America that we know today. This movie shows the hardships that were overcome, it shows the sacrifices that people made, and it does so without idealizing its characters. These people are quite real. Some are good, some are bad, some are heroic, some are cowardly or rotten. Mistakes are made, but successes are had. And in the end, we see the American spirit writ large in the drive of our ancestors to always seek the better America that lies just over the next hill.

3. Yankee Doodle Dandy

Yankee Doodle Dandy is the James Cagney biography of George M. Cohan, who is most famous for writing the songs “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “Over There.” It is a feel good story and it’s a little historical. It is an acceptable choice.

4. Air Force One National Treasure

Air Force One is a popular movie, but it’s not a very interesting movie. The President fights terrorists. Ok, cool. But patriotic? Hardly. Below the surface, this is just an action movie. Remove the President and this becomes Die Hard 2.1.

Let us substitute an equally unbelievable action movie, but one with much deeper patriotism: National Treasure. Sure, National Treasure is crawling with conspiracy theories and unbelievable secret societies and hidden puzzles and treasures, but that’s on the surface. Underneath, this movie reveres American history, our founders, and the words (and spirit) with which they founded our nation. And more importantly, the movie manages to pass that pride along to the audience.

5. Forrest Gump To Have And Have Not

Forrest Gump is not a patriotic movie, it is more of a historical drama. It is about a simple man who manages to interact with each of the significant historical events of the 1960s. This movie is often replaced by Rocky on lists of patriotic movies. Rocky is similarly the story of an under dog who overcomes long odds to gain a stunning victory. Both movies are good, but neither movie is particularly patriotic.

Thus, we substitute To Have And Have Not. To Have and Have Not finds Bogart living on the Vichy-French Island of Martinique. He is a symbol of America and Americans at the time. On the surface, he is neutral in the world, concerned primarily with his own business. But he is disturbed by what he sees around him. And beneath the surface, his strong moral code and deep-rooted patriotism, lead him to take a stand, at great personal risk, to do that which he knows to be right. This movie provides both an interesting view of how American attitudes and policy changed at the beginning of World War II, as Americans abandoned their isolationism and took a stand against tyranny, and it is a study in the classical view of American patriotism.

6. Glory Gettysburg

Glory was a good movie, but it was limited. A much better choice would be Gettysburg. Whereas Glory involved a small battle, Gettysburg involved the battle that transformed New Yorkers, Marylanders and Mainiacs into Americans. It also ensured that the Union would survive.

But even more than this, Gettysburg does something truly rare in film, it does a tremendous job of honoring both sides in the conflict by letting each side fairly explain their beliefs and by showing that both sides genuinely believed they were fighting for the good of their country. And in so doing, this movie makes us proud of both Northerners and Southerners, and it humbles us with what they endured for their beliefs.

7. Patton Sergeant York

Patton is a popular choice, but Sergeant York is better. Patton is the story of an American hero, but it tells us little about the American spirit. Patton always considered himself something more than just an American and it comes across in this movie, as he is portrayed as an arrogant man who cares more for his own glory than his country or his men.

Sergeant York, on the other hand, is a truly patriotic movie. York is a pacifist who is called to action. He is humble, heroic and likable. He is the idealized American every-man. He makes us proud, just as he makes the people at home proud. And even better, everyone around him is portrayed positively as well. His fellow soldiers are brave, competent and honest. His family and friends are decent. Even when he is brought to the “big city,” the people he meets are neither shallow nor cynical. This movie represents the best that America has to offer.

8. Apollo 13

Apollo 13 represents Americans coming together to do great things. It shows the courage of the men and women who ran the space race, and it shows how all Americans come together in times of crisis. This movie oozes civic pride, and it is a good choice.

9. The American President Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

No, no, no, no. A movie about an American President who takes a sharp left turn when he falls in love with a lobbyist? In the immortal words of Sergeant Carter, you have got to be kidding me Pyle!

How about Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. This story, about a naive and idealistic man appointed to the United States Senate, shows American government at its idealized best. As Smith discovers the shortcomings of the political process and fights his way through them, we are shown how good American government can be, when its participants act in good faith. It is a hopeful and patriotic film.

10. The Longest Day

Finally, we come to The Longest Day. This movie belongs on this list. The Longest Day shows the incredible determination and bravery of the men who overcame a seemingly invincible foe to free Europe from Nazi oppression. One by one, the great actors in this movie give us glimpses of the better parts of every aspect of American society. And best of all, this movie does not denigrate their achievement by making the Germans out at clowns or sadistic buffoons. As with Gettysburg, this movie honors the men who fought and died for this country.

After a little re-ranking from most patriotic to least, here is your Commentarama certified list:

1. Gettysburg
2. Sergeant York
3. The Longest Day
4. Independence Day
5. National Treasure
6. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
7. How The West Was Won
8. To Have And Have Not
9. Apollo 13
10. Yankee Doodle Dandy

Thoughts?

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She's A Grand Old Flag

The single most visible symbol of America is her flag. From an intellectual viewpoint, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the most important statements of what America was, is, and intends to be. But the flag represents that plus the true emotion felt by patriots past, present and future. The flag shown here is the first official thirteen star flag, even though the thirteen star flag with the stars arranged in a circle is usually thought of as the "first flag."

The earliest American flags were a multitude of patriotic and independence-minded sentiments. The defiant rattlesnake was very popular, and one version showed the snake cut in pieces with the initials of each colony above the segments entitled "join, or die." But the best-known is the "don't tread on me" flag with the rattler coiled to strike against the oppressor on a yellow background. Another version was among the first to use the alternating thirteen red and white stripes with the rattler stretched out across them.

The patriots originally considered themselves British subjects who were being treated unfairly, so even the first "American" flags used multiple versions of the red, white and blue of the English flag. One very popular early flag had the same future red and white stripes we are familiar with, but the space now containing the blue background with the white stars instead housed the British Union Jack. That flag was the first flag officially recognized by the Continental Congress as being the flag of "the independent colonies" within the British empire. It was first hoisted on January 1, 1776 as a sign of defiance to the British fleet which had just arrived in Boston Harbor. Ultimately, the red white and blue continued to dominate the flags which represented the colonies, early independence movements, and post-Declaration assertion of the complete break from the mother country.

The first legendary flag was the Betsy Ross flag. It had the stars in a circular pattern on a blue field, as Congress had ordered it from the famous seamstress, and George Washington personally intervened to make the six-point stars into five-point stars. The only problem is that there is no historical proof that this ever actually happened. There were several popular versions of the thirteen star, thirteen stripe flag, the "Betsy Ross" version being the most popular. But Congress ultimately decided on the stars arranged horizontally for future additions which would not change the basic pattern of the stars. And that became the flag pictured at the beginning of this column.

The Star Spangled Banner flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. By that time, Congress had begun to recognize that if a new star and a new stripe were added each time a new state entered the Union (there were fifteen states by then), the stripes would become unmanageable. At that point, it was determined that only stars would be added, and the original thirteen stripes would be maintained to represent the thirteen original states. That huge flag was the one that Francis Scott Key saw flying in the rockets' red glare and the dawn's early light during the British assault on Fort McHenry. He wrote his poem praising the flag, it was set to the tune of "Ode to Anacreon in Heaven," and over a hundred years later, it became our national anthem.

In 1854, Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Harbor to open the first official diplomatic relations between Japan and America. He was flying the thirty-six star flag. What many people do not know is that when General McArthur accepted the Japanese surrender in 1945, he ordered Perry's flag to be flown on the USS Missouri where the treaty was signed.

During the Civil War, Congress would not recognize the rebellion as being a dissolution of the Union, and maintained the stars of all the states, including those states which had seceded, on the flag of the United States. The Confederacy at first adopted a similar flag, with only the Confederate States represented in the blue field, but quickly realized it could easily be confused with the Union flag in the heat of battle. Thus was born the famous "stars and bars." Teddy Roosevelt carried a forty-five star flag up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American war, and for the first time, the American flag flew over territory not on the North American mainland.

The forty-eight star flag under which I was born flew over America in war and peace through the Great Depression, the First and Second World Wars and the Korean Conflict. Alaska and Hawaii became the first two (and only) non-contiguous states in the Union in the latter part of the 1950s and when their two stars were added, we had the flag we fly today.

I place the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on my shelf right next to the Bible in importance. They have a deep and profound influence on all my thinking. But the sight of Old Glory flying and the sound of the The Star Spangled Banner get my heart pounding and my pride in America showing. Maybe it's my inner feelings that say that the two documents represent America, but that wonderful flag represents Americans, the beneficiaries of those documents. It represents freedom and a free people in a way that no other flag in the world can.

For our fighting men and women overseas, let me add the last stanza of the Star Spangled Banner. Have a great Fourth of July:

Oh! Thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation;
Bles't with victory and peace may the Heavn' rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made, and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just;
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

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I desire you would Remember the Ladies

While we once again celebrate the founding of our great nation, as Abigail Adams wrote in 1776, I desire you would remember the Ladies. By now everyone knows that our Founding Fathers were toiling away in Philadelphia in 1776, but what were our "Founding Mothers" doing? Let us take a moment to remember these brave and capable women who kept the farms and businesses running, the children clothed and fed, and, as you will read, were preparing for war while their men were in the throws of labor pains giving birth to a nation. Let me take you back to the Spring of 1776...

The following is a now famous letter written by Abigail Adams to John Adams in the Spring of 1776 while John was serving as a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress:

Braintree March 31, 1776

I wish you would ever write me a Letter half as long as I write you; and tell me if you may where your Fleet are gone? What sort of Defence Virginia can make against our common Enemy? Whether it is so situated as to make an able Defence? Are not the Gentery Lords and the common people vassals, are they not like the uncivilized Natives Brittain represents us to be? I hope their Riffel Men who have shewen themselves very savage and even Blood thirsty; are not a specimen of the Generality of the people.

I am willing to allow the Colony great merrit for having produced a Washington but they have been shamefully duped by a Dunmore.

I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us.

Do not you want to see Boston; I am fearfull of the small pox, or I should have been in before this time. I got Mr. Crane to go to our House and see what state it was in. I find it has been occupied by one of the Doctors of a Regiment, very dirty, but no other damage has been done to it. The few things which were left in it are all gone. Cranch [Crane?] has the key which he never deliverd up. I have wrote to him for it and am determined to get it cleand as soon as possible and shut it up. I look upon it a new acquisition of property, a property which one month ago I did not value at a single Shilling, and could with pleasure have seen it in flames.

The Town in General is left in a better state than we expected, more oweing to a percipitate flight than any Regard to the inhabitants, tho some individuals discoverd a sense of honour and justice and have left the rent of the Houses in which they were, for the owners and the furniture unhurt, or if damaged sufficent to make it good.

Others have committed abominable Ravages. The Mansion House of your President [John Hancock] is safe and the furniture unhurt whilst both the House and Furniture of the Solisiter General [Samuel Quincy] have fallen a prey to their own merciless party. Surely the very Fiends feel a Reverential awe for Virtue and patriotism, whilst they Detest the paricide and traitor.

I feel very differently at the approach of spring to what I did a month ago. We knew not then whether we could plant or sow with safety, whether when we had toild we could reap the fruits of our own industery, whether we could rest in our own Cottages, or whether we should not be driven from the sea coasts to seek shelter in the wilderness, but now we feel as if we might sit under our own vine and eat the good of the land.

I feel a gaieti de Coar to which before I was a stranger. I think the Sun looks brighter, the Birds sing more melodiously, and Nature puts on a more chearfull countanance. We feel a temporary peace, and the poor fugitives are returning to their deserted habitations.

Tho we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with those who are trembling least the Lot of Boston should be theirs. But they cannot be in similar circumstances unless pusilanimity and cowardise should take possession of them. They have time and warning given them to see the Evil and shun it.-I long to hear that you have declared an independancy-and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.
April 5

Not having an opportunity of sending this I shall add a few lines more; tho not with a heart so gay. I have been attending the sick chamber of our Neighbour Trot whose affliction I most sensibly feel but cannot discribe, striped of two lovely children in one week. Gorge the Eldest died on wednesday and Billy the youngest on fryday, with the Canker fever, a terible disorder so much like the thr[o]at distemper, that it differs but little from it. Betsy Cranch has been very bad, but upon the recovery. Becky Peck they do not expect will live out the day. Many grown person[s] are now sick with it, in this [street?] 5. It rages much in other Towns. The Mumps too are very frequent. Isaac is now confined with it. Our own little flock are yet well. My Heart trembles with anxiety for them. God preserve them.

I want to hear much oftener from you than I do. March 8 was the last date of any that I have yet had. - You inquire of whether I am making Salt peter. I have not yet attempted it, but after Soap making believe I shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture cloathing for my family which would else be Naked. I know of but one person in this part of the Town who has made any, that is Mr. Tertias Bass as he is calld who has got very near an hundred weight which has been found to be very good. I have heard of some others in the other parishes. Mr. Reed of Weymouth has been applied to, to go to Andover to the mills which are now at work, and has gone. I have lately seen a small Manuscrip de[s]cribing the proportions for the various sorts of powder, fit for cannon, small arms and pistols. If it would be of any Service your way I will get it transcribed and send it to you. - Every one of your Friend[s] send their Regards, and all the little ones. Your Brothers youngest child lies bad with convulsion fitts. Adieu. I need not say how much I am Your ever faithfull Friend.

To all the men and women who helped found this great nation, I give my humblest thank you. And to the men and women of this country today, I admonish you to remember where we come from and to be ever vigilant because, in the words of Abigail Adams, "...[we being] Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute."
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Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. . .

As we celebrate July 4th, let us remember what really happened on that special day in 1776. Our Founding Fathers not only declared independence from England, they boldly declared a new way for mankind with these simple words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And lest you think this hyperbole, consider that these rights were not self-evident at the time. They were, in fact, a radical departure from all that had come before.

Ancient Greece invented democracy, but it wasn’t the democracy you or I know. Their ideals were noble, but in practice, their democracy was little more than a club for elitists, ruled by tyrants. The Romans improved this system and expanded the club slightly, before they collapsed into Empire. For the next 1000 years, divine kings ruled the Earth. These kings claimed to speak for God, and their subjects were little more than property.

In 1215, the first cracks appeared in this model when British nobles imposed upon King John of England the Magna Carta, wherein he agreed that his will could be bound by the rule of law. Thus, parliamentary democracy was born, with certain rights being ensured to the King’s subjects.

Then came the Americans. On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, an extraordinary group of men, declared to the world, their intent to form the first government to be established by the consent of the people it would govern and which could exercise no power to which those people did not consent. In so doing, they gave the world its first free men since the dawn of man.

Indeed, consider what this Declaration proclaimed:

Every America would have an inalienable right to life. That is, a right to be free in body and in spirit, a right to be their own person and not the property of the sovereign.

Every American would have an inalienable right to liberty. At the time, the concept of liberty connoted the right to truly own property, a right then reserved to the crown, all others being mere tenants. Thus, Americans would have the right to be secure in their possessions, particularly their lands and homes, and would no longer be tenants of the sovereign, subject to his control.

Every American would have an inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. This is not a promise to provide comfort to the people, it is something much greater, it is a guarantee that every American would have the freedom to act in accordance with their own free will.

Thus, at a time when even the freest of men belonged to his sovereign, our Founding Fathers declared that in America, it would be different. In America, every citizen would have an unchallengeable right to be free in body and spirit, free in their possessions and free in the exercise of their will.

No other government on Earth has ever surrendered such freedoms -- not then and not now. Even the most modern democracies today choose the rights to grant their citizens. Only in America, are our rights absolute, and the government must seek our consent. And while this declaration has not always been perfectly enacted, we strive toward its promise and we cherish its ideal. That is what we celebrate on July 4th.

God bless America.

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