You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

Bombeck contrasts militarized displays of national power with the ordinary, slightly chaotic rituals of an American Fourth of July. Her humor—iffy potato salad, Frisbees, and even “flies” overwhelmed by abundance—celebrates a civic identity rooted in domestic life rather than intimidation. The punch line, “You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism,” satirizes how national feeling is often expressed through consumption and communal leisure. Beneath the joke is an affectionate claim: a nation confident enough to mark independence with backyard informality, family togetherness, and self-mocking excess reveals a distinctive democratic character.