July 4th

To the unobservant, this July 4th holiday probably seems like any of the previous ones, just another midsummer honoring of our country, USA, aka Number One. To them the America of Barack Obama most likely seems just as powerful and great as the America of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The form of government and the influences on government are still the same, but what Edward Gibbon called "the animating health and vigor" have gone missing.

Many Americans, maybe even a majority, are discouraged and exhausted this July 4th because of our past and current history, now 30 years in the making, of a long, slow buildup of economic oppression, culminating in another round of recession, and this might be the round to end all rounds. Consequently, the discipline and energy of the work force, which till now has propped up the greatness of the nation even as its power waned in other areas, is demoralized and cynical, waiting for the next brick to fall.

I can't help but think of this country as a spent force, and this season I'm seeing it through the lens of the sudden and unanticipated death of another has been, Michael Jackson. I've only read a couple death notices of our beloved national one-man freak show worthy of passing along. One, by Bob Herbert of the New York Times, appeared today. The other, by the relentless critic of America's lifeways, James Howard Kunstler, is from last Monday. Be sure you've got your shinguards on before you read it.

I'll leave it to those with reason to celebrate to have a good time and eat a hot dog for me. This July 4th, reflective observers anxiously consider the history of the past few decades, and the uncertain future of our troubled country. I wonder what the chances are that our perennially flawed but once great nation can rise from its own ashes like the phoenix bird.