A funny thing happened on the Billboard charts recently. Lee Greenwood\’s 1984 hit God Bless The USA hit #1. The song has charted in recent memory, reaching double digits in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but this is the first time it has come in at number one. The track was buoyed by a recent cover by something called Home Free, Greenwood, and the United States Air Force Band. What\’s truly remarkable, though, is that at a time when almost every single voice in our media is condemning every conceivable aspect of the United States, there are still Americans who remain proud of their nation.

It\’s not easy to be a patriot these days. At every turn, from every angle, and in every venue, the United States and its traditions are under attack. Revisionist history like The 1619 Project lies about the origins of this nation, falsely claiming that it was built on slavery. Communists and socialists attack the founders of this nation, destroying their statues and calling for their monuments to be pulled down. Mount Rushmore has been condemned as \”white supremacist.\” The police, fighting to keep Americans safe from violent crime, are treated like assassins and shunned as monsters, while their departments are defunded and even abolished. The American president, who works for no pay and tries to put this nation first, is hounded daily by hypocrites and liars whose despicable machinations will follow Donald Trump beyond his office and to his grave.

We are told by the news, by entertainment, by popular culture, by social commentary, by community groups, by political action organizations, and by Democrats and quisling Republicans, that America is a bad place. It\’s a doomed, corrupt, racist force for evil and oppression in the modern world. It\’s no good. It\’s full of \”systemic\” injustice and unfairness. The \”systems\” are never named; the \”injustice\” is never objectively defined; the good that this nation has done is always forgotten as its litany of evils is recited ad nauseam.

As the pandemic grinds on and elements of our government seek to maximize the pain this virus has caused, 2020 has been relegated to write-off, a year we\’ll seek to \”do over\” as we look back on how awful it was. Our national morale has not seen lows like this since Carter was president, \”stagflation\” mired the economy, and American power shriveled and shrank on the world stage.

If you are a Democrat, you of course side with those who hate America. You despise its founding. You sneer at its Constitutional protections of individual rights. You chortle without irony at those deplorable Americans moaning about their \”freedumbs.\” You mock them for caring about individual liberty, for supporting capitalism, for voting for President Trump, and for believing that our government should put American interests first.

You believe, as many Democrats have already stated, that any amount of pain and suffering America now endures is worth it if only that Bad Orange Man is kept from reelection. Right now, you rub your hands in glee at all the laws your side will be able to enact after Democrat victories in November — laws that ban all the things, that control Americans from cradle to grave, that outlaw free speech and bend Americans to your will.

Except that it might not go how you think it will.

One of the great disappointments on the Right, for years, has been our side\’s willingness to \”go along to get along.\” We compromise with the Left believing that some amount of appeasement will one day be enough — that the scions of political correctness can be sated. They can\’t. Every time we compromise, every time we give in, every time we let the camel\’s nose into the tent, it isn\’t long  before the rest of the camel trampling our bedrolls, demand we use its pronouns or go to jail for hate speech. When they are not in power, progressives are merely lunatics baying at the moon. When they hold political power, progressives become dictators pushing their enemies against the wall.

They\’ve said as much. In the last four years, their frustration at having their lust for power even temporarily stymied has caused them to drop the last vestiges of the facade. The news is openly partisan, stating editorial opinions about Trump and Republicans as fact. The threats of violence against conservatives, libertarians, and Trump supporters are naked and — more and more — acted out with vigorous and murderous enthusiasm.  As we head into the 2020 elections, it looks bad for right-thinking individuals, and not just because the senile puppet Biden is poised to win the White House. It looks bad because, once the Democrats hold total control, there is no demand and no dictate they will not impose. They will demand compliance; they will expect that you obey.

But on July 4th, the fireworks said otherwise.

Fireworks were largely outlawed on July 4th, using the convenient premise of the pandemic. The same people who ignored COVID-19 while supporting and endorsing widespread rioting, looting, arson, and other \”protests\” in the name of racial \”justice\” conveniently remembered our world-ending pandemic when it came time to celebrate American independence. Most public fireworks displays were canceled. This was at least consistent with their ideology; the Left has been working very hard to cancel America, American pride, American patriotism, and American principles.

But the people of America disobeyed. They set off fireworks by the truckload on July 4th, defying the bans, thumbing their noses at the authorities. As one, they said, \”Nah,\” when told they were to resume huddling in their homes and hiding from the outside world. They wanted to celebrate July 4th, and so they did. While Democrats obediently sat at home under blankets chanting \”Black Lives Matter\” and contemplating how very, very evil white people are, a whole bunch of proud Americans went out into their yards and driveways and set off some damned fireworks.

Let\’s hope that spirit of defiance characterizes the Right moving forward. Let\’s hope that when the Democrats impose their destructive, invasive, corrosive policies on Americans, widespread defiance results. Let\’s hope that we all rediscover the power of saying, when told to toe the line, \”No. I won\’t do it.\”  Let\’s hope this because, despite the incessant braying of a press and a Democrat party that hates America, I still love my country — and I hope you do, too.