TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS: I, BEGRUDGINGLY, WISH YOU HAPPY AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY

To my American friends, don’t be offended by this – take it as a huge compliment – I find it hard to wish you Happy American Independence Day: I can’t get over the Boston Tea Party defeat and were I to meet King George III, I would have to have very strong words with him in the matter of the extremely onerous tax burden he placed on your forefathers. I mourn Great Britain’s loss of the US. July 4 is a sad day for me……

 

However, many Americans will, today, be ruing the day on which their Founding Fathers declared Independence – had you not done so, you wouldn’t have been staring at 4 or 8 years of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. I concede that the current machiavellian, back-stabbing politics being played out in Britain is not something of which Brits can be proud but Donald vs Hillary….dear, dear me!

 

 

When you Americans think of 1776 and the dreams of your Founding Fathers, surely many of you see a disconnect between your Independence Day celebrations and the ‘State of the Union’ today….politics, gun crime, divisions in society, disenfranchisement of communities, racist divide….the list goes on….and on…

 

 

All is not lost. The US, at its heart, is still a great nation with a fantastic Constitution. Sadly, millions of people in the US (I say merely as an outsider, as an observer) do feel disenfranchised, that they are not regarded as part of the American family, the country seems to have lost its way, and that is bad for all people around the world who value and want to live according to the principles of freedom, democracy and human rights. We need a strong United States. We need the support of a strong United States. Tragically, you are facing more uncertainty and worrying times – Donald or Hillary – but Presidents and their Administrations come and go, the US is here to stay and you will survive and be strong again.

 

 

I have very little faith in Europe. I do have faith in the United States, her Constitution, and the American people. For sure, you have a lot of dysfunctional odd-bods and a lot of scary people in your country, not least Hillary and Donald, but there are many more good guys than bad and, maybe not in the immediate future, but, looking forward, you do have a bright future.

 

 

Oh, go on then, even though I miss you, I wish you a happy Independence Day. May it usher in a bright future for your nation, a bright future for good, democratic Americans regardless of sex, colour (the correct spelling!), sexuality, religion, creed, for all of us in the Free World and for those not in the Free World who dream of the day when they will be free.

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