Happy Independence Day, everyone. Today is the last Fourth that will be blighted by George Bush in the White House; and while the country may be crumbling all around us, the passage of another day that brings us closer to the end of this disastrous reign is itself worth celebrating. But meanwhile, where are we in this imperfect union of ours? There's a war going on, obviously, one we were lied into by traitors who will probably go unpunished. Our constitutional rights, already a tenuous proposition if you happen to be black, or poor, or gay, or something other than Christian, are being further eroded by a criminal executive and its cowering occasional adversaries in the legislative branch.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

On the other hand, coming out of this nightmare, Democrats have done something many people never expected to see in their, our lifetimes: nominated a black man for the Presidency, a freshman Senator whose soaring rhetoric has propelled a new generation into politics. His chief rival? A woman. His likely opponent in November? A man who was tortured and who has a brown adopted child. There's even something new in America, a vibrant Progressive Movement that has written change on its banners, challenging the Tories of either party. So we're once again on the cusp of great change. It's worth remembering that the revolution that began twenty-three decades ago was not a foregone conclusion; quite the contrary, it was considered by many who were perfectly happy with things as they were to be profoundly ill-advised, discordant with the values of the community, an affront to the established order of things. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who did not listen to the Tories of their day. What will future generations think of us?