Spirit of 76

No, ye socks, yours truly does not refer to the fact that tomorrow will mark 76 days of the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

I had enough time atop the proverbial soapbox yesterday.

Today, I refer to the revolutionary spirit of our founding fathers and mothers, which will be officially marked tomorrow as Independence Day.

The folks at The History Channel have gotten an early start, however.

They're running a marathon broadcast of their series on the American Revolution.

Compelling stuff.

It is all too easy as we scramble to get to the beach or neighborhood barbecue to overlook the guts it took to stand-up and topple an oppressive government 234 years ago.

The good news is that the guts displayed by our forefathers and foremothers allows us to freely engage in said scrambling.

And, when we feel oppressed by our government, we don't have to pick up our muskets and march off to the tune of fife and drums.

Because of their great sacrifices and those that came later, we can simply "remember in November" and cast our ballots to find the relief we need.

Still, there is something to be said about the accompaniment of fife and drums . . .