Semiquincentennial

Today is the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which states the reasons for the Richard Henry Lee Resolution of independence passed on July 2, 1776. I am currently reading A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Jim Rasenberger. I bought the book on July 2 because of the semiquincentennial, and I am enjoying it more than Gordon Wood's Friends Divided.

I am proud to be an American. I am, on the other hand, ashamed of other Americans on the left and the right who either miss the point or do not care about the point. I am astonished by the stupidity, the nastiness, the lack of accountability, and the absence of wisdom and commonsense. Jefferson and Adams were great thinkers, as well as flawed human beings. We seem to have nothing but flawed human beings in politics these days, and the only thinking they do is about how to further their own causes.

I tend to think that we will get through this period of hyper partisanship, but "the good guys" are not as committed as the ideologues, jihadists, and other true believers in the righteousness of their causes. Useful idiots in support of these people abound. Yet, I am hopeful that one by one, people will realize that they are being manipulated and stop supporting people whose values are clearly wrong. I am doing my part to realize when someone is playing to my confirmation bias and make a more rational decision. You should do the same.