a libertarian holiday

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Anthony Gregory has an essay up today on "Celebrating Independence From the State" that tries to end on an optmistic note:

Amidst all the collectivist economic disasters, the bloodshed and the attacks on the Bill of Rights, there is reason to hope. Like the founding generation of this country, most Americans now see themselves as independent from the State. Perhaps this Fourth of July is no reason to celebrate too excitedly. But we need not despair altogether. Today's disaffection with the State may indeed become tomorrow's contagion of liberty. Some time down the line, five, ten or fifteen years from now, if not as early as a year or two from now, we just might have true cause to celebrate our Independence Day with as much exuberance as the day, marking the greatest revolution in history, deserves.

Mr. Gregory is a bit more optimistic than I am. I look around at what's happening these days and wonder how will we ever get out of our current messes. Maybe we will have a Berlin Wall kind of moment some day, where the State is dramatically reduced, but I just don't know how to get to a freer future from where we are now.