Read this on the 4th of July

Citing 27 distinct grievances committed by the Crown, those brave colonists pledged everything they had in commitment to independence, 241 years ago today.

Old George III didn’t take it too well.

The Declaration of Independence probably looked to him as radical as The Great Charter looked to King John (who accepted it) in 1215.

The outlines of the American story may be distinct, but the details are nuanced and complex. It took a war — the outcome of which was by no means certain — and another 11 years of often contentious debate to arrive at the remarkably durable Constitution under which we govern ourselves.

That latter document references the formation of a more perfect union. Since perfect, as a condition, can’t be furthered except to lessen it, the implication is that it would be up to the framers, their descendants and all of us to complete the work of perfection.

Nearly a quarter of a millennium later, we’re still working at it.

Yet, in many ways we think of ourselves as a still-young country. It’s still possible for a person alive today to have had a grandparent that might have touched the hand of George Washington.

It’s good that Congress is on recess this week. Less acrimony, fewer nasty and exaggerated accusations are coming out. Some of the cable networks are going on and on and on about this silly presidential gesture, that dopey act from a lame duck governor, some feigned outrage expressed by one politician or another.

The rest of us on this 4th of July are breathing deeply of our liberty, enjoying its bounties but mindful of our duty to preserve it.

Much of our contentious debate centers on immigrants. The contributors to the Declaration cited George III’s interference with immigration to the Colonies as one the injuries perpetrated by the king. Our latter day immigration debate has become a distortion. I think most people welcome others who wish to immigrate here to become Americans and contribute to the ongoing perfection of the Union.

My grandparents — all four of them — left an oppressive and anti-Semitic Russia to come here. They settled in Washington D.C. and never looked back. One of my granddads took me to a Senators baseball game at Griffith Stadium.

This Fourth I’ll fly the flag out front, ride my motorcycle, attend a Nationals game, eat a hot dog, drink a beer and, of course, do my annual re-reading of the Declaration.

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