... to the rebel nation which once led the world in its committment to the establishment of government predicated on the rights of man (even if its definition of "man" took another few centuries to extend much beyond white males of particular ethnic background and incomes).

Enshrined within those principles was the recognition that church and state, a person's religious beliefs and a person's political function, should never be linked by law, custom or design.

Where did it all go wrong?

Oh, and while we're at it, let's all send a little 4th of July card to the great "leader of the free world", and include on it just this one little excerpt from that famous document ratified by congress on this day 233 years ago ...

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Have a good holiday!