It’s July 5…do you know where your country is?

I’m not a big fireworks guy. This may be owing to the fact that they scared the bejeezers out of my last dog, who lived 16 years but shook uncontrollably for two or three hours on 16 consecutive Independence Days. I’m not opposed to them, but basically, if you’ve seen one rocket’s red glare you’ve seen them all. I won’t go far or expend much effort to watch a fireworks display.

I’m also not fond of picnics. I used to be, but they have lost their attraction over the years. I blame flies, old age and humidity for that. [Disclaimer: My younger daughter did invite me to one at her house yesterday and I had a very nice time with most of my family. I make an exception for that event.]

So what I did do to commemorate the Fourth of July was listen to patriotic songs, including three separate versions of “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” and post sections of the Declaration of Independence on my Facebook page. I also listened as commentators from NPR read the entire document out loud. It took less than 10 minutes and I followed along with the printed text.

If you don’t do anything else on July 4, you should at least spend 7-8 minutes reading the document that separated us from Great Britain and launched the creation of the United States of America. I have read it several times and – while far from having it memorized – have a pretty good feel for what it says.

I’m willing to bet a pile of green American money that faux-president Donald J. Trump has never read it even once. I know his loyal supporters haven’t read it, especially the one who tweeted yesterday that NPR was wasting its time communicating such “trash” over its Twitter account.

Trash. He called the Declaration of Independence “trash.”

Here are some other things that happened over the Independence Day weekend:

(1) On Saturday, July 1, Trump was the guest speaker at a “Celebrate Freedom Rally” at the Kennedy Center, during which a white Southern Baptist church choir made up and sang a song called, “Make America Great Again.” The choir from the First Baptist Church in Dallas could have performed “God Bless America” or “America the Beautiful” or any of a number of patriotic songs, but opted instead for a Trump propaganda piece that probably had the Kennedy Center’s namesake rolling over in his grave – especially since the “Celebrate Freedom” theme is really a disguised excuse for legalizing discrimination against people of color and the LGBT community.

The rally might as well have been called “Happy Fourth of July to White People Everywhere.”

(2) Trump tweeted out his Fourth of July message, in which presidents usually say patriotic things and pay tribute to our founding fathers and the brave men and women who have fought and died over the years to keep Americans free. He could have quoted John Hancock or Thomas Jefferson or John Adams, but instead he bragged about the size of the crowd:

“Getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July with a big crowd at the White House. Happy 4th to everyone. Our country will grow and prosper!”

(3) During his speech before the White Baptist Christian Rally, Trump interrupted his comments about military veterans to complain about fake news. “The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House,” Trump told the crowd, “but I'm president and they're not.” Shades of Chevy Chase. He also took time to assure us that, “We're going to start saying Merry Christmas again.” For some reason, he decided to tell us this on July 1.

(4) And finally, everyone has probably seen the video of Trump getting off his airplane, walking up to his limousine, turning right and wandering off down the tarmac like he was window shopping or looking for a lost dog. Unfortunately, he didn’t wander far enough to fall over a cliff before his Secret Service detail turned him around and pointed him back toward the car.

You know, there are 326 million people in the United States, including 235 million who are eligible to vote. Trump received 62.9 million votes in the last election, meaning that he was sent to the White House by roughly 26% of the voting public. It’s time for the remaining 74% to get up off the couch and demand that our leaders do something about this travesty.

It’s bad enough that Trump has uttered a long list of vile and disgusting statements in the last two years or that he lies on an almost daily basis, but now he’s angling to turn the Fourth of July into his own personal holiday, complete with orchestral and choral support and his very own theme song. You know who does this? People like Idi Amin, Muammar al-Gaddafi and Kim Jong-un.

So on this day -- the day after Independence Day -- I hold this truth to be self-evident: It’s time for somebody to step up and fix this problem before it gets any worse. The Declaration of Independence was signed so this kind of thing would stop happening. Click this link and read it. You'll see.