Jack of Harts

The United States of America sent military units all over the world to fight the Islamic States and the Rogue AIs that had cropped up during the Second Great Depression. They even managed to get the fleet carriers and escorts anchored at San Diego back out to sea to face off against the Chinese forces looking to invade Australia. That took everybody working together to do, and the resulting navy task force was a truly American force. Ground troops were another matter. Most military bases in America fell to control of the State they lived in when the Federal government collapsed, and the States were not overly enthusiastic about giving them back to the Feds. So the various reserve and guard troops and fighter squadrons that traveled around the world to fight the good fight flew Texas, California, or Dixie flags above their American flags. That was a practice that stuck all the way to Jack’s time. It was utterly normal. A reminder that the States were in charge, even if that control had slipped a fair degree by his time.

The Second Great Depression devastated America’s political powers. They had claimed for generations that there would always be more money to pay everything they promised to pay. Both the old Democrat and Republican parties were on an express train to bankruptcy as they robbed Peter to pay Paul. Or whoever happened to be the oppressed racial, economic, or religious minority of the day. Partisan politics divided America far more than anything could fully bring back together. And when the economic system came crashing down, the prepared bunkered up and started shooting looters like cordwood. The unprepared died when the looters came calling, and the remains of the old networks broadcast the fires for everybody to see. Some people called it a Second Civil War, others a Second Rebellion. The political extremists on both sides failed to realize how divorced they had become from the rest of America, and when it came time to fish or cut bait, the great majority of Americans cut both major parties up into kindling. Yes. I’m mixing metaphors here. It was a confusing and complex time, you know. 😉

Today we celebrate the day that a group of well-armed men came together and did something crazy.

They came from every major religion in America, from Catholics to Unitarians to Congregationalists and more. They were men of politics and business. They were old men and young men. Some were great orators. Others preferred silence. Some would be ruined by what they did. Others rose to prominence because of it. One of them would become the first President of the nation born out of this action, and dared the British to come get him by signing his name as large as possible.

They did not wish to be taxed without being represented. They did not wish to be forced to buy things they did not wish to buy. They did not wish the government to take their firearms away from them. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to break the American colonies away from the King of England, the most powerful empire of the day.

Today we celebrate that they did not fail. That America lives because of them.

So go ahead and celebrate the birth of our nation by blowing a piece of it up. Trust me. Our founders would totally understand how that feels.