The Other McCain on the Fourth of July

The Other McCain has thoughts on our nation's birthday. Of Declarations and Independence

First, it was not the words of the declaration, but rather the military action of soldiers, to which Americans owe our independence. By the time Congress in Philadelphia issued the declaration, the American colonists had been in a de facto state of war against Britain for more than a year. The “shot heard ’round the world” — the battles of Lexington and Concord — had happened on April 19, 1775. Patriot militia then besieged the British troops in Boston, and the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, which was five weeks after Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga. All this military action preceded the words of the Declaration of Independence by more than a year, and the war lasted another seven years until the Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783. While it is good that we celebrate the Fourth of July to commemorate the Declaration of Independence, we ought not forget that it took a war to give practical meaning to those words.

There is more. And apparently they made fireworks great again. Thank You, Tip-Jar Hitters!

We’ll be shooting a dozen 48-shot Color Pearl cakes in one of our finales this year, which means 576 little red and green comets flying into the air in the span of about 20 seconds. You’ll notice I said “one of our finales,” because part of the “roller coaster” method of doing a fireworks show is building up to at least one fake finale before you do the massive barrage of the Grand Finale.