It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYc. I'm Bridget Bergen, billing in for Brian today.

Good morning again, everybody.

Since tomorrow is the 4th of July, a time when we celebrate the birth of our country,

I want to start this segment off by sharing a few

lines from the Declaration of Independence, the document that started it all, read by

my colleagues WNYC as Amanda Rizan, Amina Sarna, and Juliana Fonda.

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.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, It is the right of the people to

alter or to abolish it and to institute new government laying its foundation on

such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect

their safety and happiness.

We've all heard this text.

It's nothing new, but in this particular moment of our country's

history these words feel particularly relevant over the course of the last few

years we've repeatedly heard warnings that democracy is at stake in the upcoming

2024 elections and as the election grows nearer that threat feels more real.

Let's just recap some of the events of this past week alone. On Monday, the Supreme

Court ruled that Donald Trump and all other former presidents are immune to

prosecution for actions taken while exercising their core constitutional powers

...