Today is Independence Day, a day in which we reflect on the bravery of Will Smith and Randy Quaid, engage in sodium nitrate vertical distribution, and blow off major appendages. Freedom in America is and has been under assault for quite some time by right-wing ideologues. Sadly, the conversation regarding the flagrant erosion of individual freedoms has been hijacked by a million moron army of stupid white people on Rascals and a penchant for wearing teabags.

The biggest and most salient of freedom encroachment would have to be in the arena of religion. Not to make Sean Hannity cry, but our nation was founded not by Christians (Sorry, Fox News) but rather Deists. These were great men and products of The Enlightenment, thus men who did not believe the bible was true and therefore relied on reason over faith. These deep thinkers and skeptics believed the universe had a creator, but that providence does and should not concern himself with the daily lives of humans, and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or by sacred books. They did not deny the existence of Jesus but they did not accept him as divine. Chief among them was Thomas Jefferson.