belated 4th of July celebration

Yup. That's about right. Pro tip for leaders of countries. Don't abuse feelings of loyalty based upon a location of birthplace and local kinship that are nature and turn them into justifications for things that aren't otherwise justified. It tends to work out... rather badly, in the long run at least.

You all keep doing it of course, because it consolidates power so well and develops a mythology around the cult of the soldier and his duties, or the authorities and theirs. Personally, the last thing I want to deal with is a man with a gun demanding to talk to me or to present documents for arbitrary reasons. So you can go fuck yourself on the nationalism. I'll stick to Jimi's version. At least when I'm not feeling Marvin.