Fourth of July

On this 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence I am displaying in my front yard an Uncle Sam statuette holding aloft the flag as a statement of my good fortune and my pride to be a citizen of the United States.

Uncle Sam is also a symbol of my concern for year 251 because of the increasing erosion of our nation’s ethical and humanitarian values as we confront frightening and potentially disastrous threats to our government, society, and environment. Nations collapse when political corruption and greed destroy the means and the will of citizens to solve the country’s most crucial problems. And we have many, many problems that our irresponsible, incompetent, and immoral executive branch of government is incapable of addressing because of its corrupt and greedy leadership.

Here is a short list:

Climate change, environmental destruction, rising sea levels, water shortages, drought, aquifer and surface water depletion, forest and brush wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, derechos, floods, artificial intelligence, robotics, electrical power demand, resource depletion, urbanization, rural poverty, industrial agriculture, deteriorating infrastructure, health care, social isolation, addictions, public education, employment, wealth inequality, oligarchies, immigration, food security and safety, inflation, prison populations, human trafficking, mass shootings, threats to free speech, money in politics, corporate takeover of the economy and government, tyranny, voter suppression, gerrymandering, racism, white supremacists, MAGA, MAHA, terrorist factions, military juntas, proliferation of nuclear weapons, loss of allies, deteriorating international relations, and of course one of my personal issues – the decline of the national sport of baseball.

Happy July Fourth.

Vote Blue in the national, state, and local elections on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.