What happened to our country

We were cleaning our basement when we came across some 1976 Bicentennial material that my wife's mother had carefully stowed away. Here is an example.

This 1976 calendar was given away free at Exxon stations. The promotional calendar was distributed at the beginning of the bicentennial year and must have been planned months in advance. She also preserved Founding Father playing cards that were given away at Bob's Big Boy. Lots and lots of other company-sponsored items were given away free to celebrate our country's anniversary and the Declaration of Independence. (My mother-in-law was a very nice person, but cheap. She valued free stuff.)

Now Google ExxonMobil for our 250th celebration. Crickets. Same for most of Corporate America. Our USA-based companies have found something else to celebrate. Something else to take pride in.

ExxonMobil got one thing right in the promo narrative: "It is a time to reflect on how culture has changed and a time to ambitiously seek where we would like culture to go."

When did patriotism go out of fashion? When did patriotism become denounced? When did we forget, or never learn, the significance of our Founding and the Declaration of Independence? 

Not only when, but who? Who stole our American heritage?

The best way to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America is to replace who with we ... We the People.

Repeating the quote at the top of this page.

“The infant periods of most nations are buried in silence, or veiled in fable, and perhaps the world has lost little it should regret. But the origins of the American Republic contain lessons of which posterity ought not to be deprived.” —James Madison

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