Earlier today we celebrated the diversity, inclusion, and just plain weirdness of the 2023 Takoma Park July 4th parade. We were there because, as historian Heather Cox Richardson reminds us, it was on July 4th, 1776, that . . .

[T]he Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring: “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.”

For all the fact that the congressmen got around the sticky little problem of Black and Indigenous slavery by defining “men” as “white men,” and for all that it never crossed their minds that women might also have rights, the Declaration of Independence was an astonishingly radical document. In a world that had been dominated by a small class of rich men for so long that most people simply accepted that they should be forever tied to their status at birth, a group of upstart legislators on the edges of a continent declared that no man was born better than any other.

America was founded on the radical idea that all men are created equal.

One of the great present-day defenders of that founding principle, the courageous and highly effective Jamie Raskin, served as the Grand Marshal for his hometown parade. Sporting one of his stylish Stevie Van Zandt bandanas as he continues his recovery from treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Raskin could not be bound by the car provided for his use, once again walking the route and working the crowd like the pro he is.

Along with seeing Congressman Raskin, we got to hear musicians of all stripes salute America with Caribbean pan drumming, old 60s rockers, patriotic hymns, and tunes from Scottish bagpipes.

It was the Mark H. Taiko School — bringing a Japanese musical tradition to Maryland — that won first prize in the parade’s performing arts category.

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This year’s parade featured dancers, strange automobiles, beauty queens, other types of queens, the always-popular Revelers, and . . . the local chapter of midwives!

But it was the Happy Campers who took away one of the top two Wacky Tacky Takoma Awards.

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The City of Takoma Park is always eager to salute and thank their public works department and workers. Once again, the guy driving the mower had waaaay too much fun making circles along the parade route.

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When you put it all together — even the inclusion of the supporters of the anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theorist, and all-round nut RFK, Jr. because in this parade they give just about everyone a platform — this is the messiness that is democracy. And it is wonderful and worth fighting for.

Happy July 4th everyone!

More to come…

DJB