The 4th of July

By Anonymous

 


The photograph above shows military aircraft flying over the Washington Monument on July 4th, 2020. This fitting commemoration of Trump’s presidency was intended to unite the deeply divided country by inciting a sense of national pride through a demonstration of military power. For a large part of a country a demonstration like this works, it invokes a sense of national pride that unites the country. However, this is what Bellah was warning against when he said that in the Vietnam war the US has “been tempted to rely on our overwhelming physical power rather than on our intelligence” (Bellah, 17). This was for him “the third time of trial” for the American civil religion, which Bellah conceived as the “generalized religion of the American Way of Life” (Bellah, 1). This photo clearly shows the unity that it can produce, spectators line the reflecting pool clad in red, white, and blue. Showing love for the flag at demonstrations like this, especially wearing the colors, is a clear demonstration of the third trial on civil religion. The US has fallen into a pattern of abusing military power to defend “freedom” in smaller countries. To this day the same themes of sacrifice that Bellah notes “consecrate the struggle further” still sanctify bloody invasions of countries that pale in comparison to US military capabilities. Trump wanted to use this unity to bolster support for his run in the presidential election, rallying behind fallen soldiers is easy for a country that hasn’t lived the reality of these wars. 


Harnik, Andrew. Last Year's July 4th Festivities Involved a Blue Angels Flyover. Washington DC, 4 July 2020. 

Bellah, Robert N. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus, vol. 96, no. 1, 1967. 


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