Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth of July Cake, from Make My Cake in New York
[Image source: New York Post]

July 1 (dubbed Canada Day) doesn't come close to the holiday celebrated across the border."Happy Fourth of July!" really does evoke a holiday, in the middle of summer, with fireworks, barbecues, street festivals, and generally happy people, and of course independence.

But Lawrence Auster, at the View From the Right, presents a different perspective:

How can I—how can anyone—read the Declaration aloud this year in honor of American existence and American liberty? The colonies that were acting in unison as "one people," and in the act named themselves the United States of America, the free country that brought itself into existence with that Declaration on the basis of God-ordained limits on government power, has, as of June 28, 2012, officially come to an end. As a commenter at Lucianne.com has put it, "Think of Obamacare as the Declaration of Dependence."

The Declaration of Independence no longer represents what our country actually is. It represents our past country, and, perhaps, a future country. If we are to read the Declaration together, it can only be in that spirit, as patriotism to a non-existent country. As I said on the morning of June 28, patriotism to the United States as it actually exists "is simply subscription to, loyalty to, patriotism to, obedience to, a leftist unlimited state."

Wikipedia on Canada Day explains that:

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act, 1867 (today called the Constitution Act, 1867, in Canada), which united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire. Originally called Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), the name was changed in 1982, the year the Canada Act* was passed. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as by Canadians internationally.

The operative word is "within the British Empire."

The first sentence on the Wikipedia entry on Canada tells us that:

Canada is a federal state governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.

This ambiguous notion of independence brought about the awful multiculturalism, where a burqad, Muslim woman, jarring and alien to Canadian culture and history, can happily stand at a Canada Day "celebration" and talk about being a "Canadian."

But no country is immune to destructive forces, so I will cautiously wish Americans a Happy Fourth of July, but also heed them to pay close attention to those forces rising in their country.

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*

The Canada Act 1982 (1982 c. 11) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed at the request of the Canadian federal government to "patriate" Canada's constitution, ending the necessity for the country to request certain types of amendment to the Constitution of Canada to be made by the British parliament. The Act also formally ended the "request and consent" provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in relation to Canada, whereby the British parliament had a general power to pass laws extending to Canada at its own request. [Source: Canada Act 1982, from Wikipedia]