July 4 - the great turning is underway

On this July 4 my heart is with those who are protesting against US colonial occupation.

Annual protest at the US NSA spy base Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, England

The US was founded by oligarchs who wanted to split from the British. They saw the North American landmass that held vast resources and knew they could create their own empire.

The primary obstacle at the time was the indigenous people living on this continent but George Washington had a solution to that 'problem'. He sent his military forces to kill the natives and steal their lands. Successive presidents carried out the same genocidal program.

They also jumped onto the African slave trade. Between 1525 and 1866, in the entire history of the slave trade to the New World, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade - The Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama

This 'free labor' essentially built the wealth of the US that was held in the hands of the slave masters, the slave traders, cotton barons, Wall Street banksters and their descendants. According to Harper’s magazine (November 2000), the United States stole an estimated $100 trillion for 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865.

Currently the US has 800 military bases all around the globe ensuring that the capitalists (working with their NATO allies) can control the lands they occupy while attempting to steal the resources in those places.

Over the last 249 years, since the official founding of the US in 1776, Washington has plundered and regime changed non-stop.

But on this July 4 we see the great turning underway. The US is no longer respected, feared, nor wanted in the places it currently occupies - or wishes to occupy. The world is over the American magic. The air has gone out of the balloon.

Nations want US bases closed and the lands they occupy cleaned up from the military toxins that now contaminate them. At this time the US might give back some of the lands, but as we see in places like Seoul, South Korea, Washington has no intention to be responsible for cleaning up its mess.

Today it is all about the growing rebellion against US empire. Isn't it fitting that on July 4 we instead celebrate those peoples who want the US-NATO military occupation to end. It is the only fair thing to do.

How can US taxpayers afford to keep funding this mega-colossal military machine?

Trump wants a Star Wars ‘Golden Dome’ over the US to protect our nation from counter-strikes after the Pentagon launches their planned wars on China and Russia. Congressional estimates range from $550 billion to a couple trillion dollars over 20 years. Elon Musk’s Space X company is in the lead for the biggest contract as well as seeking hundreds of billions for the colonization of Mars that he so often brags about.

Social Security is in grave danger of being privatized along with the Veterans Administration (VA), the postal service, Amtrak and much more. The oligarchs are literally draining the public sector and pocketing the cash – sort of like pirates stealing the buried treasure chest.

If we want to honor America on July 4 we should be fighting to retain social progress, a livable environment, free speech and the right to protest rather than surrendering the nation to these greedy oligarchs.

The desperation shows as we watch the angry words coming from Washington demanding control of Greenland, Canada, Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Ukraine’s resources, Congo's rare earths and much more.

The mis-leadership in the White House and Congress know that our day in the sun is over. The myth of American exceptionalism has been shattered by the emergence of the Global South, BRICS+, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and an ever-feisty African continent.

Much of the world's population seeks liberation from the 'exceptional American nation'. Who could ever blame them?

On this July 4 my heart is with those who are protesting against US colonial occupation.

Bruce