July 4th, for most Americans, is a day we celebrate our country.

We revel in what it means to be American. We dress in red, white, and blue. We have parades. We go to fairs. We fire up the BBQ. And most towns end the day with a glorious display of fireworks—often accompanied by patriotic songs like “God Bless America,” “This Land is Your Land,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and, of course, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

It’s a day that fills many with pride and a smug satisfaction that we live in the best of all possible places.

But I don’t feel that way this year. I think we’ve forgotten the origins of this holiday—and of our country. The Declaration of Independence is a document so powerfully written, so eloquent, it has inspired the founding declarations of dozens of other countries, including France, Israel, and even the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I believe the current administration and the MAGA political movement have completely lost sight of what the Declaration means—starting with its most famous sentence:

“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.”

If Donald Trump, the Republican Congress, and the MAGA faithful truly understood those thirty-five words, they wouldn’t be conducting their rampage against the undocumented immigrants in this country. The sad irony is that many of those very people they target actually understand the meaning of those words better than the people in power. They came here in pursuit of happiness. They came seeking liberty they couldn’t find in their own countries—countries often ruled by the kinds of regimes now embraced by our government. Many fled because staying meant risking imprisonment or death. They came here chasing the very ideals we claim to hold sacred.

I’m not suggesting we throw open the borders. Immigration should be regulated. But Congress has known about these issues for years and failed to act—not because solutions don’t exist, but because neither party has been willing to find common ground and pass common-sense legislation.

What I am saying is that the way we’ve handled this crisis is as un-American as the Declaration of Independence is American.

The Declaration lists twenty-seven grievances against King George III. At least fourteen of them could be used today as reasons to oppose the Trump agenda:

• Refusal to pass necessary laws – Instead of enacting better, fairer immigration legislation, the government acts by executive order, despite Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress and the presidency.
• Forbidding governors to pass urgent laws without royal approval – Trump threatens any Republican who crosses him and funds challengers against them.
• Obstructing justice – Trump appointees have publicly stated they’ll only follow court rulings they agree with.
• Making judges dependent on his will – Trump has repeatedly threatened to impeach or jail federal judges.
• Sending officers to harass the people – ICE and DHS raids are the modern equivalent.
• Making the military superior to civil power – Remember the Marines in California?
• Cutting off trade – Tariffs, anyone?
• Imposing taxes without consent – Tariffs are taxes passed without congressional approval.
• Denying trial by jury – ICE detainees routinely lose this fundamental right.
• Transporting colonists overseas for trial – Migrants held in Guantánamo Bay and Costa Rica come to mind.
• Abolishing local laws – Declaring war on sanctuary cities and overriding state decisions certainly qualifies.
• Renouncing colonial charters – Trump’s order blocking state climate regulations in California, New York, and Vermont fits here.
• Ignoring peaceful petitions – Protests and demonstrations have been largely peaceful. The response: indifference.
• Deaf to justice and kinship – Trump shows loyalty only to himself. Ask Elon Musk.

Today, you’ll see plenty of MAGA supporters waving flags and proclaiming their love for America. Their eyes may even tear up when “The Star-Spangled Banner” plays. But their vision of America is the opposite of what the Founders fought for.

If we truly want to celebrate what this country stands for, then we must fight for the values laid out in the Declaration:

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations… evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government…”

So today, when you see the flag, when you’re flipping burgers, or watching the fireworks explode in the night sky, take a moment. Remember what being American really means. And remember that it is our duty to stand up for those values—and fight like hell to remove those who don’t.