by Jacob G. Hornberger

March 30, 2026

This coming Fourth of July, when Americans will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, there will be an amusing aspect of the celebrations — the fact that Americans today hate everything our American ancestors stood for. But at least the feelings have been mutual; our American ancestors hated everything that today’s Americans stand for.

No, I’m not referring to the issue of slavery. I’m referring to the issue of serfdom. Our American ancestors would never have countenanced a society in which the American people are serfs. Today’s Americans, on the other hand, wouldn’t have it any other way; they love their lives of serfdom.

The fact is that America has had two different systems — a serfdom system and a non-serfdom system. Ironically, even though those two systems are opposites, today’s Americans consider both of them to be “freedom,” which, of course, is an impossibility. One or the other system constitutes genuine freedom. The fact that modern-day Americans are convinced that their serfdom system is freedom is simply their delusion.

In fact, that’s another amusing aspect of the coming Independence Day picnics, parades, speeches, fireworks, and parties. Everyone will be expressing thanks for living in a “free” society. Indeed, if they happen to encounter a soldier or agents of ICE, TSA, DEA, Border Patrol, or Homeland Security who happen to be occupying one of America’s cities, manning some highway checkpoint, or patting down people at some airport, Americans will eagerly thank them for their “service” in defending the “freedoms” of the American people and for keeping them “safe” from all those scary boogeymen who are clearly coming to get them.

Let’s examine some of the things that today’s Americans love and that our American ancestors hated:

1. A national-security state.

Today’s Americans love their national-security state governmental apparatus — i.e., the Pentagon, the vast military empire, the military-industrial complex, the CIA, and the NSA. Even though they are loathe to admit it, the national-security establishment is their god — their everything. They think it’s necessary to protect their “freedom” and to keep them “safe” from all those scary boogeymen who are, they are convinced, coming to get them.

Our American ancestors hated a national-security state. In fact, if the Constitution had called into existence a national-security state, there is no doubt that our American ancestors would have quickly rejected it. They approved a limited-government republic instead.

2. Social Security, Medicare, and other socialist programs.

Today’s Americans love these socialist programs. They believe that they are necessary for the survival and well-being of seniors, the poor, and many others. They believe that it is the role of the federal government to take care of people by taking money from those to whom it belongs and giving it to those to whom it does not belong. Today’s Americans are hooked on socialism, so long as it isn’t called socialism.

Our American ancestors hated socialism. They lived without Social Security, Medicare, and other socialist programs for more than 100 years. They placed their faith in God, themselves, others, and voluntary charity. The notion that people should be forced to care for others was anathema for them.

3. Immigration controls.

Today’s Americans love the fact that the federal government is keeping them “safe” with a fully militarized border and a deadly and destructive immigration police state. They have no problems whatsoever in trading their liberty for the pretense of “safety” and “security.”

Our American ancestors, on the other hand, believed in open borders — that is, the right of people to freely move to the United States. They understood that open immigration was part and parcel of a genuinely free society. They also understood that an immigration police state was the opposite of a free society. In fact, another irony in the coming Fourth of July celebrations is that Americans will be celebrating a document that lists King George’s immigration controls as a reason for the American Revolution.

4. Income taxation.

Today’s Americans love the income tax and the IRS, an agency that just happens to be much more tyrannical than anything King George had. After all, the income tax funds the welfare-warfare state that is so beloved to American citizens today and which they are convinced is “freedom.”

Our American ancestors, on the other hand, fully and completely hated income taxation and other direct taxation. They understood that such taxation would convert them into serfs of the federal government. Therefore, it should not surprise anyone that our American ancestors lived without income taxation and an IRS for more than 100 years. But then, of course, they also didn’t have a welfare-warfare state to fund.

5. Foreign interventionism.

Today’s Americans love foreign interventionism. They love the death and destruction it wreaks among foreigners who refuse to kowtow to the U.S. Empire. They love the invasions, the occupations, the coups, the assassinations, the kidnappings, the murders, and the destruction of liberty here at home. They get their courage vicariously through the troops. That’s why they use the pronoun “we,” as in “We need to be tough with those North Koreans, Cubans, Viet Cong, Taliban, Iraqis, Iranians, Venezuelans, and others,” when, in fact, they are referring to the soldiers within their beloved national-security state.

Our American ancestors hated foreign interventionism. They were opposed to using America’s army to go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.” But of course they also had a system of open borders that said to foreigners, “If you can get out and come here, we will never forcibly send you back.”

6. Drug prohibition.

Today’s Americans love the drug war. Despite at least 70 years of drug warfare, they love the fact that the federal government continues to engage in an endless series of drug busts. Never mind that the drug war has accelerated the destruction of freedom and privacy of the American people. Americans don’t care about that. They just want the drug war to continue into perpetuity.

Our American ancestors lived without drug laws for more than 100 years. Their concept of freedom included the right to ingest anything they wanted. They would never have traded away their freedom for the pretense of being kept safe from drug cartels and drug lords, which, ironically, are the product of drug prohibition itself.

As the Fourth of July approaches, everyone should prepare himself for some weird stuff, including watching Americans celebrate their life of serfdom as “freedom” and also watching Americans block out of their minds that our American ancestors hated everything that today’s Americans stand for and have done to our country.