Framers Implied Breaking Glass Ceilings

By Allen Schmertzler.

 

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July 4th used to be my favorite national holiday. It was about country, non-partisan and without overt religiosity, and for a kid, the only time blowing stuff up was celebrated by your parents. I loved seeing American Flags everywhere and walking my childhood neighborhood that hosted ghosts from The War of Independence.

I lived in a two-story red brick row house wedged between Kings Highway, Flatlands and Flatbush, a historic location where British General Cornwallis in 1776 camped his massive troops. I loved the historic church at that location with moss covered cemetery plots. I attended Boy Scout events there as well as walked by this sacred ground going and coming from school at PS119 every day. I loved contemplating how old the dates were on the headstones. Blowing up stuff on July 4th in this neighborhood was cool with history.

Later in life, living with dogs, my love of fireworks turned into anticipation, anxiety and awkward reminders of the ugliness of war. Yet just as the New York Times proudly posts in its July 4th newspaper a full version of the Declaration of Independence, I have a quiet ritual of reflecting on how lucky I have been to live my life in this country. Today, as I write this, I am aglow with celebrating how many glass ceilings have shattered lately, freeing us all from historic restrictions, and honoring vital words enshrined in our founding documents.

I lamented most of my educated adult life the fact that our Founders were privileged white men protecting their privilege. Although they were married to women and had daughters, some had slaves, some became biologically interconnected with their slaves, and in the context of their world, despite such intimate experiences, failed to see their own hypocrisy of establishing a society legalizing depriving equal rights to all classes of people.

Today, because of the stubborn vigilance and unwavering passion of activists relentlessly pushing our society to actualize and legalize the implied spirit of our founding documents, President Barack Obama prepares to become our first Black Ex-President, Hillary Rodham Clinton has become the first woman nominee for the presidency who hopefully will be the first woman president, and the LGBT community has full and equal rights.

But, there is much more work that needs to be completed. None of which will occur if the guy who broke another glass ceiling by being the first totally non-qualified “man-baby” huckster to win his party’s nomination for president wins in November. In the land of the free and brave on July 4th we celebrate the full scope of “independence” including the risk that “any one” can become president and blow stuff up.

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