If the American Revolution happened today...

To me, honoring this historical day and the values it purportedly represents means evolving past what the American Revolution eventually produced. To quote 19th-century abolitionist Lysander Spooner: “But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain—that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”

To quote Edward Snowden, who broke the law to expose the government’s wrongdoing and so embodies the spirit of the revolution far more than any politician who pays it lip service: “It was once impossible to imagine countries without kings. A time will come when they look back and say the same of presidents.”