Digital Ink Los Angeles

Anyone who’s ever been to a ball game knows its call to stand and give praise to
Old Glory:

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

195 years ago today, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem describing the U.S. flag still standing after a British bombardment. It was during the War of 1812, and Mr. Key had been watching the Battle of Fort McHenry from the British confinement he was being held in for one night. When the sun rose, he saw the flag had survived.

On any day, the same freedom that allows someone to burn a flag also necessitates their need to give thanks for that same flag.

In a nation that allows someone to speak to the eminent figure of U.S. government in slander (You Lie!) in front of 50-million people, what’s the essence of this freedom if not the emblem of this freedom?

The Star Spangled Banner is more than an anthem to commence an athletic event, it’s a testament to American liberty and the idea that, no matter how tough things get, that flag will still be there. Regardless of race, creed, religion, gender, politics, age, or income, the flag flies.

Jim Hendrix saw the Star Spangled Banner as a protest song. Makes sense, as the freedom it personifies requires active participation.

Watch Jimi protest his liberties and freedoms by letting his “freak flag fly” here:

Voltaire knew the world was on the cusp of a greater existence — technological development, New World expansion, individual liberty, and societal equality — but he felt there were subtle forces restricting this progression.

Forces like militaristic avarice, aristocratic ignorance, and the unequal distribution of wealth between the upper-class and the lower-class. Of course, these concerns, and resistance by a burgeoning middle-class, led to the French Revolution.

Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694, in Paris. Provided an aristocratic education, Voltaire was what might be called a “smart-ass” in modern times, and he was often too smart for his own good.

In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman, Chevalier De Rohan, and was given two options: imprisonment or exile. Choosing to be exiled, from 1726 to 1729 Voltaire lived in England. While in England, Voltaire became enamored with the philosophy of John Locke and the unique vision and imagination of Sir Isaac Newton.

Voltaire was particularly interested in the philosophical rationalism of the time — embracing a notion that humans should remain steadfast in an intellectual, deductive pursuit of truth, instead of emotive, sensory perception of the world.

In 1759, Voltaire’s Candide was published, and the world would never be the same. The legacy of Candide remains today as a piece of fire-brand literature that speaks to man’s simian roots — that we are all just monkeys with nice haircuts.

Some of Digital Ink‘s favorite Voltaire quotes:

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

“Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.”

“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.”

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

Fly Like an Eagle – July 16, 1969

The recollection of historical facts can draw together disparate ideas and create relevance where before there seemed none. Sometimes, historical events might become metaphors for grander ideas, allowing us to imagine if that is possible, so might this be.

A walk on the Moon is something only 12 American astronauts can lay claim to, and Neil Armstrong was the first, declaring, 40 years ago, “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

There’s a plaque left on the Moon, 240,000 miles above Earth, by the crew of the Apollo 11, which reads:

“Here men from planet Earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

As the United States — and the rest of mankind — adjust to the rigors of 21st Century existence, many difficulties and uncertainties have become magnified and worsened. Failed drug wars, California’s financial collapse, Wall Street chaos, Middle East conflict, and domestic issues like healthcare and education are seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

If the United States can put a man on the moon, can’t we educate every citizen? Can’t we assimilate a global conference to eradicate poverty and abject hunger for children? Can a nation founded on liberty and the pursuit of happiness continue to offer these privileges to its citizens as inalienable rights? Can the United States continue to lead the free world toward peace and harmony?

Armstrong’s declaration remains as prophetic today as it seemed in the volatile era of 1969, announcing to many that a common goal among humble men can become more for humanity than we might’ve imagined. Every exploration begins with uncertainty, and some end with certainty. 40 years after Apollo 11, the announcement remains the same:

Yes We Can!

On July 14, 1789, the French citizens represented by the Third Estate had arranged themselves into a militia capable of enforcing their new National Assembly‘s laws, mostly in response to growing dismay over their blossoming national debt. The storming of the Bastille created the Bastille Day holiday, equivalent to the United States’ Fourth of July Independence celebration.

Of course, the reason the French nobility had broken their national coffers and bankrupted their country — they were trying to help the American colonies gain their independence and freedom from England.

The Sans-culottes (French for “without knee-breeches”) were the poorer members of the Third Estate, and also the most likely to exact violent repayment of social debts by the aristocratic nobility who they felt responsible for the poor state of France. Within this broiling realm of hatred and revenge, a notion for “humane” execution had emerged — oddly, from Louis XVI, who sought a way to appease the angered masses and their protests over the inhumane Catherine Wheel.

From this emerged an instrument of “humane” execution: The Guillotine.

According to Wikipedia, between July 1793 to July 1794 in France is known as the Reign of Terror, the upheaval following the overthrow of the monarchy, which hurled France into chaos, and the newly formed government into frenzied paranoia. Most of the democratic reforms of the revolution were suspended and large-scale executions by guillotine began. Former King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were executed in 1793, and this was just the beginning of the bloodletting.

Robespierre had emerged as a speaker for the people in the new government, and his history associates him with much responsibility for the vulgarity and absurdity of the Terror. The “Revolutionary Tribunal” sentenced thousands to the guillotine. Every shape, size, class, color, and shade of people were charged and beheaded on suspicion of “crimes against liberty,” leading them down the short path with a big blade waiting for them — often referred to as the National Razor. Estimates of total guillotine deaths range between 20,000 and 40,000 sliced necks.

Vive La France!. Of course, coup d’etat has always had a different meaning since then. Slicing their way to freedom, one head at a time.

Sliced baguette anyone? Sacre Bleu!

The first known use of the word freedom in a political context dates back to the 24th century BC, in a text describing the restoration of social and economic liberty in Lagash, a Sumerian city-state.

Urukagina, the king of Lagash, established the first known legal code to protect citizens from the rich and powerful. Known as a great reformer, Urukagina established laws that forbade compelling the sale of property and required the charges against the accused to be stated before any man accused of a crime could be punished. This is the first known example of any form of due process in the history of humanity.

Sumer is also known as the “Cradle of Civilization,” or Mesopotamia. The Tigris and Euphrates are the fertile, nutrient-rich rivers that flow southward into modern-day Persian Gulf, which geographically separates Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, and the Saudi Arabian Peninsula.

The Iraqi government has been awarded autonomy and sovereignty of its laws and lands by the U.S. government, effective as of July 1, 2009. The tank-mounted machine-gun in this picture would have been an alarming image until “Operation Iraqi Freedom” liberated the country from its previous government.

The notion we have to celebrate July 4th, because of our adoption of the Declaration of Independence on this date in 1776, is ironic because it takes several long years before the loose confederation of colonies becomes a real nation.

Indeed, the Unites States’ Constitution Day is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787. That’s eleven years of struggle and perseverance. Baghdad (New Sumeria) has their work cut out for them.

Happy JULY 4th Holidays! Live freely.