Independence at the hand of tyranny

Happy 4th of July everyone.

The day that represents freedom from taxation without representation, religious oppression, and the long arm of England that reached across the big pond to stick its filthy hand into what WE rightfully owned........

So hopefully by now you've picked up on a little sarcasm....and I would hope so because I'm laying it on pretty thick. Don't get me wrong, I love this country and consider myself spoiled and blessed to be a US citizen with a mortgage, a wife and 2 kids (yes I count my dogs as kids)......but I think it just simply wouldn't be American to be an unconditional patriot.

I HATE the seedy side of our freedom. To say that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave almost gets my blood boiling every time I hear it. We (the mainstream of America.....Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, just to name a few non-pc divisions of our culture) enjoy freedom as we know it at the expense of what once was an amazing culture of indigenous tribes that thrived in the US and Canada without an understanding of land ownership or how one man could tell another what rights or lack of rights he has in life.

I won't go on forever because I can feel even the soap box beneath me groaning at the prospect of hearing yet another angry tirade on behalf of Native Americans. Just consider what July 4th must feel like to a poverty-stricken nation whose "sovereignty" is merely lip service to try and patch up old wounds that have festered and refused to heal.