Myra and I walked on our local 4^th of July parade for about the 9^th time since we moved to the US in 2000. Now if you want to say there’s something a bit odd about two Brit’s who aren’t even citizens walking on a parade the celebrates independence from British tyranny, feel free … of course you know, and we know, that what really happened was more nuanced than that. We walk because we were originally asked to by our local Kiwanis club, of which we were proud members. More recently, we’ve participated with “One Nation Under God” (http://www.onug.usa) because we are sympathetic to the views of “a growing alliance of Patriotic, God – Fearing American Citizens who have decided, it is time to take back America from the organized resistance groups who have succeeded in undermining our cherished American values, led us in disobedience to the laws of God, revised and watered down our history, taken away prayer and public references to God, and publicly ridiculed any reliance on our Creator as the sole source of all our national blessings and prosperity.”

I was disturbed, this year … perhaps this was the first time I really noticed … by the heavy politicizing of the parade. Don’t get me wrong … I’m politically conservative … and I’m in sympathy with those who want to reduce big government, cut taxes, affirm the words of the constitution as written … but it seems to me that the 4^th of July parade should be one time when everyone joins together to celebrate the timeless common shared values of America and forget about spiteful backbiting. What do you think?