I have pride for my country all year round.

This isn't to imply that folks going out partying on the 4th aren't proud of their country.  And over the last four-to-eight years there have been, it seemed, more things to anger me about my country than there were things to be proud in.

But for the most part, whether folks are conservative or liberal, whatever walk of life they come from, there is a lot to be proud of for them.

I'm proud that we have the freedom to come onto forums like OpenSalon, IMDb, GoogleForums and limitless other places on the net and speak our mind.  We needn't keep this to the internet though.  The press has freedoms here that aren't granted to the press in some parts of the world.  Newspapers, books, TV (to some extent), radio and all the other forms of media allow us to express our minds and/or tell it like it is, depending on your point of view.

Now, I realize these freedoms sometimes allow the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and other conservative and/or Fox News mouthpieces to run rampant and in some cases taint the mindset of otherwise decent, good and hard-working Americans.  But such is the price of freedom I suppose.

And while I am proud that we have the freedom to bear arms in defense of our country, I am not always proud of how these arms are handled by the common folk - training or no training, permit or no.

I am proud that we have finally elected a black candidate to the Presidency, that he has swung the doors wide open for the future to finally come to America's shores.  We had been stagnating as a technological, educational and general leader of the free world, in fact falling behind on many accounts.  But it looks like science and the arts will no longer be shunned in America's schools.

But there is a wave of people fighting against this new tide, people who, although small in number, make me ashamed that such hatred, stifling of progress and repression (or regression, take your pick) still exists in our fine country.

Whatever the case, I don't need a holiday to remind me to be patriotic or proud of America.  Neither am I patriotic or proud simply because I happened to be born here.  I am proud of America because time and again her people have risen above forces that have assailed them, whether from the outside like in World War II or from the inside like the insidious NeoCon cancer that invaded Washington D.C. these past eight years.  Always we have risen above and come out better.  It remains to be seen how much better we will be with Obama in office, or if our darkest sides will prevail.  I surely do hope that the Holocost Museum and George Tiller shootings will be but a few minor blips on our road to a brighter future, and I will be very proud if they are.  I will also be proud even if there is a larger plot brewing, a bigger attack on a bigger target - what would make me proud in this case will be if Americans (as has usually been the case) don't turn away in fear or anger, but stand tall and proud against any such fiendish behavior, as they always have.

So on the 4th of July, I don't think about my pride in country, or my patriotism, even amidst all the flag-waving and other festivities.  I sit back, enjoy my non-nutritious fair food like funnel cakes and corn dogs, and enjoy the fireworks.  Pride is for the other 364 days, the fourth is a day to relax and enjoy.