Today is Independence Day in the United States, and across this great land we mark the occasion with the iconic images of parades, fireworks, waving flags and blackened weenies on the grill. But one thing you rarely see is the actual image of what this holiday is all about. There it is up above, the Declaration of Independence.

Penned in 1776, the Declaration of Independence set forth principles that should make every American proud.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

At 61, I’m old enough to have seen a lot of bad moments in my nation’s history. Like many Americans, I’ve endured politicians I disliked, along with policies with which I did not agree. But until the ascendancy of Donald J. Trump…