The parallels with our own time are myriad: even as we observe this solemn holiday with barbecues and self-congratulatory parades, the Senate has just finished debating the extension of key elements of the “Patriot” Act, that “most unpatriotic of acts,” enacted at the peak of the post-9/11 hysteria. Section 215 of the Act has been interpreted by the government (and its Star Chamber known as the “FISA court”) to allow for the mass collection of Americans’ electronic communications and phone data: in effect, universal surveillance without an individual warrant.