On the occasion of US Independence Day and the celebration of the semiquincentennial, here’s a repost of a Substack post by Andy Borowitz, a US writer, comedian, satirist, and actor. (Link below.)

Andy’s understated comment:

Good morning, my friends. Sorry there were no jokes in this post, but if you agree with this Declaration, I hope you’ll consider sharing it.

Love,

Andy

To this I would add a reminder that the preservation of slavery was one of the overriding reasons for the push for independence from England, at least among the members of the political and financial elite du jour because this inhumane and unjust institution was on its way out in the mother country and too damn profitable. I highly recommend this book by Gerald Horne: The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America, published in 2014.

Don’t miss the bonus posts and videos at the bottom.

Happy 4th and 250th!

MAA

A New Declaration of Independence from Tyranny

We hold these truths to be self-evident

Andy Borowitz

Jul 01, 2026

When in the course of human events a tyrant imperils a nation, it is the duty of those who cherish democracy to remove him from power.


We the People refuse to tolerate a despot who threatens our country and the world.

–He has engaged in corrupt schemes to profit from his office, plunder the Treasury, and steal from the taxpayers.

–He has desecrated the People’s House and the nation’s capital.

–He has perverted the Department of Justice to take revenge on his perceived enemies.

–He has vandalized the federal government, replacing experienced professionals with incompetent sycophants.

–He has deployed a domestic army of masked thugs to terrorize, torture, and kill.

–He has shredded aid for those most in need, at home and abroad, spreading hunger, sickness, and death.

–He has betrayed the nation’s allies and collaborated with its foes.

–And he has committed war crimes, ordering unprovoked attacks on foreign countries, targeting civilians, and massacring children.

We reject him and his enablers.

They must be held accountable and brought to justice.

And such tyranny must never contaminate this nation again.

Today we vow to set the United States on a new course.

To eliminate racism, sexism, and inequality.

To embrace honesty, empathy, and kindness.

To form a more perfect Union.

Bonus #1

I created four versions of a song based on Andy Borowitz’s new Declaration of Independence from Tyranny using an AI-powered, human-assisted approach. Which one is your favorite?

A More Perfect Union

Version 1

Version 2

Version 3

Version 4

Bonus #2

Dumb Americans | George Carlin | Life Is Worth Losing (2005) Sadly, this 2005 monologue by George Carlin has aged like fine wine. He was a prophet. What he said then is truer now. Watch it (again?), laugh, cry, and think about what comes next. This is the state of the union after 250 years.

Bonus #3

Requiem for America on the Fourth of July (3.7.26) The con of neoliberalism has gutted our democracy and paved the way for fascism. Author: Chris Hedges

Bonus #4

Unfortunately, this essay by VTN is behind a paywall that I wasn’t able to bypass in the usual way.

‘250 Years of Cruelty’ – Viet Thanh Nguyen on the ‘American Empire’ and How to Save the U.S. – The liberation of the American peoples cannot be achieved without the shedding of imperial weight, writes the Pulitzer prize-winning author in this somber essay marking the semiquincentennial.