Independent of What?

It's supposed to be 95 degrees today. Which means it will be closer to 100. Gah.

I was thinking about Independence Day, and not the Will Smith movie.

After what our ancestors fought for, either as a Revolutionary War soldier or a later immigrant who struggled to survive in a new land, what exactly are we independent of right now?

Just one come-hither-and-pay-up gesture from the Chinese and we're doomed. I don't call that independent.

As someone who owes a great deal of money to her mortgage company and has recently added an enormous debt to that, I don't feel independent.

Yeah, yeah, I get it. No man is an island, blah blah blah.

But I don't think the American War for Independence was fought so an American government could so rampantly pick my pocket instead of a British government doing the same.

Pleasantville picks my pocket to send other peoples' children to inferior public schools. The State of New Jersey picks my pocket to give money to townships far, far away. The Federal government picks my pocket to support retired Congressmen and women.

No. I don't feel so independent. Ask me when I'm living off the grid someplace, making enough money to survive but not enough money to tax. Maybe then I'll feel independent.