Happy Delusional 4th of July!

 

Happy Delusional 4th of July, everyone! Here in Idaho, we celebrate our country's independence by setting things on fire and blowing shit up, all the while frightening pets and, most ironically, the veterans with PTSD who have fought for the freedoms we supposedly venerate. We Idahoans value our freedom so much that we refused to wear face coverings in the middle of a public health crisis because . . . liberty!

 

I don't know about you, but it sounded like WWIII in our neighborhood, and all of this was in the middle of a major drought. What could possibly go wrong?

 

But this little rant of mine is not the reason I'm labeling the holiday as "Delusional" this year. 

 

Over the July 4th weekend, my husband, Dan, and I went jogging on the Greenbelt to check out the new mural near our side of town.

 

 

 

 

However, just down the street from this mural which professes the message, "Radiate Positivity," another seemingly contradictory statement was being made.

 

 

"Trump won?!'" I exclaimed. "Also, he's going to 'Save America?' That's who they put their faith in? His organization and CFO were just charged with tax fraud. Sounds patriotic to me . . ." 

 

Yet, there is a large segment of our population who truly believe the election (and not Trump's taxes) was a fraud.   

I know this because people were honking in support as they drove by. 

"Stop honking!" I yelled at the passing cars. "You're delusional!"

All the while, a private plane flying a banner with some sort of anti-abortion propaganda circled overhead.

 

"That has to be great for the environment . . ." I muttered. 

 

Welcome to my dystopian movie. 

You might think Dan was embarrassed by my counterprotest on the sidewalk. You would be wrong.

"Geesh, what a bunch of old white guys," Dan said, shaking his head.

 

As we drove by this display of wackiness, Dan rolled down the car window and glanced at me expectantly. 

 

Emboldened by Dan, I yelled at them, "He didn't win just because you wanted him to! That's not how democracy works!"

 

Then the traffic light turned red, and we found ourselves stopped right in front of the delusional gathering. Dan rolled up the car window as we both stared straight ahead.

 

There are still a lot of American flags flying around the city. I suppose there will be for a while, maybe forever. People love their flags in Idaho. 

 

A couple of days later, I was running on another stretch of Greenbelt and found this fun display. Now this is the 4th of July decoration I can get behind.

 

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