I hope you’re looking forward to a wonderful Fourth of July. Mine will be my usual: family, flags, fireworks, baseball, burgers, bratwurst.[1] Independence Day has been my favorite part of summer since I was old enough to hold a sparkler.

I’m a born flag-waver. The first-born of a World War II Marine, I was raised to love the Mother Country. I’ve seen “Sergeant York” 12 times. I sing the national anthem at ballgames. I was at Berkeley from ’68 to ’71 and never so much as heated up my draft card. Next to me, George M. Cohan’s a Trotskyite.