I have never felt less like celebrating Independence Day than this year. I’m going through the motions but all the fireworks and celebrations feel like a going away party as we begin a very dark new undemocratic era for this country, orders of magnitude worse if Trump And Republicans win federally but the trajectory into the toilet regardless. The malicious actors who got us here aren’t the ones being blamed or stripped of power/wealth. They are getting ever more of it, with weakened other institutions besides their privately owned companies and privately funded think tanks even less able to stand in the way. Can we pull back from the brink, achieve a new egalitarian and democratic renaissance through this? Yes. Do I see indications we will? No. Some glimmers of hope? Yes. The ideals of America that we never lived up to but made more progress in the last few decades for many than at any other time for people who weren’t straight white Christian men is now on the verge of being reversed back to a century before. You know the “good old days”. I can’t get excited about celebrating that or pretending that it’s not happening while 1/3 cheer it on and another 1/3 to 1/2 don’t give a fuck. Anyway Happy Independence Day or something. I’m going to go enjoy some food, drink, and fireworks at whatever the fuck this celebration is about this year. #IndependenceDay #FourthOfJuly #uspoli #rant
4