This just in:  Another year brings another 4th of July to my desktop calendar.  I wonder how many people will hang a flag in front of their house and think, “There.  I’m a patriot.  Mission accomplished.”

I tend to think there is more to being patriotic than that.  Just like I think there is more to being a good person than going to church and then proclaiming myself a Christian.

But first…I have to tell you about something my dog did that I found extremely impressive.

My “small” dog is a Labrador.  Now, if you have ever had one of these, you know that they will not only eat anything that fits it their mouths, but they will do so with what I can only describe as Extreme Gusto.

So Echo, my dog, needs to take a pill.  Pills and pinecones are the only thing on her “Do Not Eat” list.  So, to get her to eat this pill, I put it in a handful of kibble and let her gobble this out of my hand.  As expected, she attacked this feast and gobbled everything down…then as she walked away…she stopped just long enough to spit out the pill.

I was impressed.

Now a bit about dinner.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary.  We went to a fairly swanky restaurant.  We’d never been there before.  They had a small menu with about 7 or 8 items on it.  Of course…I went with the Pork Belly.

My wife wanted the Duck. The following conversation ensued…

Wife:  I’ll take the Duck

Waiter:  We don’t have Duck

Wife: But it’s on the menu.

Waiter:  I know but we don’t have any Duck.

Me:  When will you have Duck?  I’d like to know so we can get it next time.

Waiter:  We have Duck.

Me:  I don’t understand.

Waiter:  It’s on the menu.

Me: Okay…so my wife will take the Duck.

Waiter: We don’t have any Duck.

This is a true conversation.

My wife, Erika, ended up with some sort of eggplant thing.

And finally, my take on patriotism…

Keep in mind…this is just my opinion…

If you posted your flag and felt that you’d fulfilled your patriotic duty…then great.  However, if you did that and then went in and watched Fox News and cheered for Trump and the Republican Party…then I’m going to have to call “bullshit” on your claim to patriotism.

If you support Trump and the Republican Party, you are either a racist/evangelica (hate non-whites and/or non-Christians or your are intellectually lazy.  (You may have noticed that I have taken off my gloves.)

If you cheer when Trump says, “The Democrats want MS-13 to come into our country,”  then are easily manipulated.

Here is a link to a study that shows Democracies around the world are on the decline.  The United States took the deepest dive over the last 2 years…the Trump years.

If the only thing you are doing to stop this decline is hanging a flag…then you are part of the problem.

Up, up and away…

Jim