so here's the thing.

i love the 4th of july. it's been one of my favorite holidays since i was a little kid. when my parents used to dress my sisters and me up in matching red, white and blue outfits. when we'd decorate our bikes with streamers and ride in the parade.

i love holidays and family traditions. i love blueberry pancakes. i love parades and picnics and fireworks. i love root beer barrels and tootsie rolls and red, white and blue jello that my grandma would make in little individual cups. i love going downtown with a blanket and watching other families enjoy their own traditions. and listening to cheesy cover bands play in front of the gerald r ford museum. i love walking on the bridge just after they close it down and reuniting with all my old high school friends. i love sparklers and flags and fire trucks and men dressed up as uncle sam.

i think it's irresponsible to live in this country under the shelter and protection of the freedom that so many people have died for and not be thankful for it. george w bush did not invent america. you can be patriotic and a non-republican. you can be proud to be an american and not arrogant. yes, this country has a lot of ugly history. every country does. there are plenty of things in american history that no one should be proud of. there are plenty of things happening right now that no one should be proud of. i'm not especially proud of the reputation that the US has in the world right now. i'm not particularly proud to have a guy like john bolton representing me in the UN. but i am proud of the basic principles on which this country was founded. and i think we've come an awfully long way in the short time we've existed. i'm proud of that and, at the same time, willing to acknowledge that we still have a long way to go.

i think it's important to distinguish between the US being a great country and being the greatest country in the world. the first is unarguably true. the second is an elitist attitude that has gotten us into trouble and will ultimately get us nowhere. there are plenty of great nations in this world. i'm proud to be among them. and i hope that in the not-so-distant future, citizens of this country and its leaders will no longer give artists a valid reason to write songs like this one.

cuz america can
and america can't say no
and america does
if america says it's so
it's so
and the achor person on tv
goes "la de da de da"
- the decemberists