Point of order, though: I do appreciate all the salutations and greetings today, but rather than saying, “Happy 4th!” I would delight in hearing, “Happy Independence Day!” After all, that’s what today is about, regardless of where it happens to have landed on the calendar.
By the way, on this day which rings true the message of individual liberty in the heart of all red-blooded Americans, it caught my attention that people who are “fiercely nationalistic” or “reverent of individual liberty” are labeled as terrorists by a new study on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security (link opens as PDF in new window).
Well, USA and liberty, if lovin’ you is wrong…I don’t wanna be right. The report above tries to mask its claims against such people by qualifying them as accompanied by preparing to retaliate violently. That brings me back to one of Clint’s Rules of Reality (heretofore unpublished, lest be it labeled a “manifesto”:
regardless of size, location, or construction, it becomes a compound.”
My point is that, if you satisfy the requirements of *gasp* thinking the wrong sort of thoughts, it won’t be too hard for someone to make the short leap to branding you as dangerous…as long as you’re on the wrong side of the ideological spectrum.
This isn’t the first time people who oppose abortion, people who put stickers on the back of their trucks, people who attend Tea Party rallies (but not Occupy Wall Street), or people who support Ron Paul (among whom I am not one) have been branded as dangerous and possible terrorists…and it won’t be the last. I just wanted to inform you that if this day has brought to mind a swell of national pride and love of liberty, look out: you may have just become an enemy of the state…at least while Hope™ and Change™ are the bywords of the day.