PORTLAND, Ore. – To some people, nothing is sacred. Not even Fourth of July fireworks.

Fireworks have been a staple of Independence Day celebrations since the earliest years of the republic. The tradition dates back to July 3, 1776, when John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, suggesting that that America’s birthday “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

But now the progressives are trying to revise that history, too.

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Bill Bigelow of the radical teacher organization Rethinking Schools, wrote that we need to “rethink” the 4th of July. This “progressive” teacher has declared war on fireworks.

The Fourth of July “…provides cover for people to blow off fireworks that terrify young children and animals, and that turn the air thick with smoke and errant projectiles. Last year, the fire department here [Portland, OR] reported 172 fires sparked by toy missiles, defective firecrackers, and other items of explosive revelry.”

So Bigelow is concerned about public safety. Fair enough. But there’s more:

“Apart from the noise pollution, air pollution, and flying debris pollution, there is something profoundly inappropriate about blowing off fireworks at a time when the United States is waging war with real fireworks around the world. To cite just one example, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London found recently that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan alone have killed more than 200 people, including at least 60 children. And, of course, the U.S. war in Afghanistan drags on and on. The pretend war of celebratory fireworks thus becomes part of a propaganda campaign that inures us—especially the children among us—to the real wars half a world away.”

Yes, to this ingenious teacher, fireworks promote war. In fact, he says fireworks are “pretend war!”

Is there any vestige of original Americana that Marxist educators won’t seek to erase from our culture?

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The real problem is that too many Americans, particularly youngsters, have little idea what the Fourth of July commemorates. They light off fireworks because they think it’s fun, not because they have the first clue that they’re celebrating their nation’s independence.

That’s due to the influence of teachers like Bigelow. They would rather make students feel guilty about being Americans than encourage them to appreciate the great things about their nation.

If they manage to win their internal war on America by brainwashing too many young minds, we will all be sorry in the very near future.