Many definitions of independence involve money-not having to depend on others for one's subsistence. Wiki defines it politically: "the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty."
And at answers.com, independence means
the condition of being politically free: autonomy, freedom,-independency, liberty, self-government, sovereignty. See- dependence/independence, free/unfree; the capacity-to manage one's own affairs, make one's own judgments,-and provide for oneself: self-determination, self-reliance,-self-sufficiency.-
Here are a few more:
----- What I perceive the definition of independence [to be] is the absolute -freedom to do what you want, and to not be held back by any -rules or laws of government or man, but by the rules and- laws of nature and your own self concise [I don't know what-he means by "concise" here-probably fault of spellcheck;-I would have had to pay to read more of this awkward yet- sincere essay, author unnamed, at helpme.com.]
The state or quality of being independent; freedom from- dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by,-others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one's -own affairs without interference. (brainyquote.com)-
And how is July 4 defined by none less than the venerable
Webster's Revised Unabridged, itself nearly one hundred years old?-
a civil holiday for the celebration of the anniversary of the beginnings of national independence; specifically:-July 4 observed as a legal holiday in the United States in -commmemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of-Independence in 1776. [Merriam-Webster On Line, taken from Webster's Unabridged, 1913]
Wiki marks the first declaration of independence as Scotland's Declaration of Arbroath (April 6, 1320) and the most recent as Abhkazia's Act of State Independence, from Georgia, which considers both it and South Ossetia as "occupied territories." Two "recognized" countries in the world currently recognize Abkhazia's sovereignty: Russia and Nicaragua.
Today is the 233nd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I remember our Bicentennial in 1976. This country had just exited Vietnam ("peace with honor") but wasn't through devastating Southeast Asia. Domestically, we were still recovering from Watergate-small potatoes compared with the Bush 43 administration that has so far gotten away with murder, literally and lots of it.
In Boston, where I lived at the time, the "People's Bi-centennial" was celebrated on April 1975, remembering the Boston Tea Party (which actually occurred on December 16, 1773). According to Wiki, in front of a large crowd, "several people threw packages labeled 'Gulf Oil' and 'Exxon' into Boston Harbor in symbolic opposition to corporate power." Descendants of the sexton of Old North Church in 1776 lit the first two lanterns, and President Ford lit a third lantern at the church to signify this country's third century of freedom and commemorate Paul Reverend and William Dawes's ride and the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
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