Happy Birthday, America! Are you in?

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Watching war movies during U.S. holidays is a given.

Most families and friends try to unite, food and libation are must-haves, and veterans and elders are treated like royals because, well, they are our royalty.

Yet the No. 1 thing Americans will be watching this Independence Day won’t be a retelling of how Americans whipped the British, emerged victorious in World War I or (with nods to the Tuskegee Airmen) rescued Europe from the despicable Hitler.

The No. 1 and No. 2 newsreels these days are about COVID-19 and protesters.

Though America has not declared war on another country and another 9/11 has not caught us napping, America is nonetheless at war.

One enemy, the coronavirus, is a hidden danger and it caught us and the rest of the world off guard, unprepared in business-as-usual comfort zones. Inside and far, far outside the Beltway, the battle against Donald Trump was always front and center — since the 2016 Trump victory or, more pointedly, the Hillary Clinton loss.

Perhaps we should have trained our eyes and ears on Bernie Sanders, “Squad” co-leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michael Bloomberg, the New Yorkers who all along were shouting no justice, no peace in their own way. And that leads us — the global us — to the other war.

Seemingly, we’re waging a war on ourselves, claiming that Black lives matter and other lives do not.

How is OK to push Black lives when mixed marriages and families are the new normal?

Religion, race, ethnicity, age, gender (genderless), size, culture, geography, politics, income, ethics, etc., etc., etc. have all been tossed aside around much of the globe when it comes to human. Sure, there are straddlers and deplorable situations all around the globe, but that’s life. That’s America.

That’s why Americans have the edge, the sensibilities, the common sense and the innovation to beat COVID-19.

Talk to young people and adults, if need be, and tell them to either stay indoors or put on a daggum mask. It’s the least they can do until Election Day or a vaccine discovery, whichever comes first.

The bottom line? If you need President Trump or Joe Biden to tell you want to do, then America is sunk.

The Revolutionary War doesn’t count, slavery was a very good thing, global wars were a waste of time and education is a total waste of time and money. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness either matters or it doesn’t.

If it doesn’t, you can take a hike because this isn’t a movie.

If it does matter, America and being American deserve a happy, happy birthday!

You in?

Deborah Simmons can be contacted at [email protected]

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