Americans love their meat. It goes great with guns, whisky and fireworks.
It makes perfect sense, then, that the Guadalajara chapter of Democrats Abroad would choose an Argentinian restaurant as a suitable place in which to celebrate American Independence Day and to talk a little business over a bloody steak and a glass of red wine or cocktail.
The organization’s name is a peerlessly succinct description of its membership base, so that need not be explained. However, if you’re wondering as to its purpose: DA’s platform mainly consists in finding expatriates registered with the Democratic Party and getting them to vote — or re-registering and re-indoctrinating lapsed party members. Also, it advocates for the institution of residency-based taxation, which is a system in which “you pay taxes according to the country in which you live, rather than the one in which you are a citizen.”
The celebration doubled as the inauguration of the Guadalajara chapter of the DA, which will work closely with its sister chapter in Chapala. Massachusetts native Will Chapman, the newly-minted chapter’s chairman, explained how it sprang into being out of geographical necessity.
“[Only having a chapter in Chapala] didn’t work well because people in Guadalajara don’t go to Chapala and people in Chapala don’t go to Guadalajara,” said Chapman.
While you won’t likely find chest-thumping uber-patriots at a Democrats Abroad event, some members did wax nostalgic about 4th of July celebrations of yore.
Chapman’s recollection of Independence Day events during his childhood in New England evokes a sepia-colored image of WASP-ish, upright piety.
“I remember putting on a blazer and a tie to go out with my family to watch the parade. People would dress up as though they were going to church. That doesn’t happen anymore.
It was a different world. I remember it being a solemn occasion. Both my parents had served in the military and so took it very seriously. WWII was an existential crisis for
the country; we didn’t know how the world was going to end up,” said Chapman, describing why he thinks attitudes towards patriotic events such as the 4th of July, Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day have changes so much since the Second World War.
“[Without the draft] war became very remote. People these days forget we’ve been at war for well over ten years. [Back then] war touched everybody, even those who weren’t in the military,” explained Chapman.
The experience of DA Member-At-Large Rick Rice, who is of the same generation as Chapman, conjured up somewhat less solemn imagery in the mind’s eye and suggested a marked dampening of the pitch of patriotic fervor from east coast to west.
“When we had a 4th of July celebration in Seattle, it was fireworks, that was it. Fireworks was the big deal,” said Rice with a shrug of his shoulders.
Chapman, though, seemed to take the day — often merely an excuse to empty a case or two of Budweiser with friends while watching the kids ping-pong around inside a rented jumpy-house — more seriously, especially in light of the prevailing political climate north of the border.
“The positive thing for me right now, rather than associating Independence Day solely with having a barbecue with your family and swimming at the town beach or lake, is really using it as an opportunity to think about the fundamental values upon which our country was founded, and our personal commitment to them,” observed Chapman.
Right now, there’s perhaps no more apropos place (together with Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, etc.) in which to contemplate those values — among which may be counted tolerance, charity and compassion towards peoples of other nations — than in Mexico.