Independence Day is a relic that has little meaning in America today. It is like the Confederate flag; a symbol of a time far distant that most Americans have long forgotten. Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays, right behind Easter and Christmas, because it celebrated the valor and sacrifice of our forefathers as they embarked on a struggle for liberty, against impossible odds, in order to create the most unique and righteous form of government in the history of mankind.

Rejecting for the first time the Divine Right of Kings, which posited that God had ordained certain men to rule over us, our Founding Fathers declared that all men are created equal, and are endowed with certain unalienable rights simply by virtue of their birth as children of the Creator, and government was just only when acting by the consent of the governed. It cannot be understated just how revolutionary an idea this was.

Our forefathers fought and died to secure this idea of liberty. General George Washington, commissioned by the Founders, led a rag-tag band of ill-trained, ill-equipped farmers and merchants to victory against the far superior British, suffering far more defeats than victory, retreating more often than advancing, yet by the hand of Divine Providence achieved victory, accepting the surrender of Lord Charles Cornwallis and his forces at the conclusion of the Battle of Yorktown.

At this point though, it may be time to just do away with Independence Day celebrations. Considering the level of government tyranny we have accepted, it is farcical to continue to pretend that we are a free nation.

Beg to differ? Consider the following:

We have a president who repeatedly and brazenly ignores the law — whether that be our immigration laws, infringements on the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, and even a health care “reform” law passed exclusively by his own party — and then dares Congress to do something about it.

Five members of the United States Supreme Court just ignored any constitutional limits on its power, overrode the will of more than fifty million voters in three dozen states, and discovered in the newfound “Dignity Clause” a “right” to same-sex “marriage” that eluded the Founders, went unnoticed by the writers of the 14th Amendment, and all Congresses and Supreme Courts in the 147 years since its passage. In doing so Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, took the exact opposite position in Obergefell to discover the “right” to same-sex marriage as he used to justify tossing out Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in the Windsor case (namely, that it was a power reserved to the states).

The day before that, Chief Justice Roberts, for the second time in as many years, ignored the plain language of the ObamaCare law in order to save it from its own incompetence, and stated, in defense of his judicial tyranny, that Congress could not have meant to say what the law says, so the language of the law must be sacrificed to save the spirit of the law. As a result, for the first time in history, Americans are being forced by their government to purchase a private product, whether they want to or not.

In Oregon, the husband and wife owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa have been fined $135,000, and had their lives destroyed by pro-homosexual fascists in league with state government, simply for declining to bake a cake for a lesbian “wedding.” This despite the fact that, at the time of the request, homosexual “marriage” was illegal in their state, and despite the fact that there were dozens of other bakeries in the area that would have happily provided the cake. More shockingly, the state placed the bakery owner under a gag order, threatening them with additional fines if they spoke of their state-sponsored persecution. The clear message is that religious freedom is subservient to political correctness, and Christians must comply or be destroyed.

For years now, the federal government, under the auspices of protecting the homeland, has been collecting and storing the digital communications of every American; including cell phone metadata and conversations, emails, web searches, texts, and social media activity. It has done so without obtaining warrants to search the private papers and effects of those 320 million Americans, which is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Despite two Supreme Court rulings in recent years upholding the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right, major cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., continue to make it nearly impossible for law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms for personal defense. This despite the fact that murder and violent crime rates in those cities are astronomical, and despite the fact that a study commissioned by the Obama administration’s Centers for Disease Control reveals that guns are used far more often for self defense than in the commission of a crime.

Despite numerous studies showing that ethanol burns dirtier than gas, produces less energy per unit of fuel, and damages gasoline engines, the federal government still forces American oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline blend. This drives up the price of gas, increases the cost of car repairs, and drives up the cost of food. But our government comrades demand compliance to their “green” energy agenda, and we meekly comply, to our own detriment.

In pursuit of their global warming agenda, government forces automakers to build lighter, less safe vehicles in order to meet ridiculous CAFE standards for fuel economy. This drives up the cost of the vehicles by thousands of dollars, but we have no say in the matter. We are also watching passively as the Obama administration destroys an entire industry (coal) to meet a political objective, even though doing so will cost thousands of jobs and drive up the price of electricity.

In Seattle, girls as young as twelve have been implanted with IUD’s without parental knowledge or consent. This is just the latest in a long line of usurpations of parental rights, which now take a back seat to government overreach. Our children are being indoctrinated into an agenda that glorifies irresponsible, casual sex, and teaches them that they are animals, unable to control sexual urges. But government is right there with all the birth control and abortion access a girl needs to end that unwanted pregnancy without the hassle of letting her parents know.

Most Americans probably can’t tell you what asset forfeiture is, but a growing number of Americans are ensnared by it. Basically, if government catches you with more cash than it thinks you should have on hand, it can seize it from you until you can prove the money was legitimately obtained. Government makes you sue it to get your money back, costing you years of your time, and tens of thousands of your dollars. If you win, you can’t sue them to recover the cost of your time or attorneys fees.

We now live in a nation where government dictates how much water can flow through our showers each minute, and how much can flow through our toilets with each flush (which leads to really disgusting problems). We can no longer buy incandescent light bulbs even if we want to, and  government tells us what we can put in our bodies and in what quantities, and what we are forbidden from ingesting (tough luck if you like foods containing trans-fat).

The list of these infringements on our rights is nearly limitless, as is the presumption that we are all infants incapable of making decisions for ourselves. The Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations, the “bibles” which catalog the tens of thousands of rules and regulations governing every aspect of our existence in excruciating minutiae, logs in at hundreds of thousands of pages. How is it possible for the average citizen to keep up with these rules? Every minute of every day each one of us is likely in violation of a dozen federal laws or regulations.

What makes it even worse is that Americans for the most part are utterly ignorant of our nation’s history, its heritage, the Constitution, and the principles which undergird our form of government. Most Americans can no longer name the three branches of government, or tell you which rights the First Amendment protects, much less offer an intelligent discourse on the Separation of Powers doctrine, or the doctrine of federalism. They can’t explain the connection between the passage of the 17th Amendment and the explosion in the size, scope, and power of the federal government. Most can’t even name their own congressman or senator.

Because of that ignorance, most Americans actually believe that we are a democracy, where the will of the majority should rule, rather than a constitutional republic, where the rights of individuals are sacred and not subject to a vote. As a result, many Americans now believe they have a right to never be offended, and lose their minds when someone does or says something with which they disagree.

So sure, every July 4th we’ll continue to have cookouts and go to the beach or the ballgame. We’ll continue to sing the national anthem, shoot off fireworks, and pay homage to the great men that made this nation a beacon for freedom, even if most Americans wouldn’t recognize their picture or be able to list any of their accomplishments.

We’ll go through the motions of freedom, but those paying attention know that it has been many, many years since America was truly a free country. Today, those that love liberty weep, and they pray for another great awakening. Independence Day? No…In-Dependence Day.