On this July 4 weekend, I'm troubled.

that's the title of a beautifully-put post from Simply Left Behind, on our recent history and the damage done to our Constitution:

 It's not like there's any great revelation to be found in this blogpost. No breaking news, no diatribe against the lastest "faux-controversy."

Just a general sense of unease.

When one looks back at American history since the Nixon administration, one is struck that, for the first time in our history, liberty has been narrowed. Think about this for a moment: our Forefathers and -mothers fought for all of us to enjoy the fruits of liberty: young, old, black, white, male, female, straight, gay.

We seem to have reached the pinnacle of our efforts just about the time that forces to destroy our freedoms took root. It was as much as to say that, "OK, if everyone gets to be free, then let's redefine freedom." And so the task of rewriting what it means to be free had arisen, to the point where, only today, do we get a clear picture of the effort.

Bush has been the worst, but Bush has only been the most recent. ...

Definitely worth a read, and hopefully there are solutions?