  I spent the Fourth of July in Pacific Beach, and something that came up in conversations with people was the savageness of the entire celebration. It wasn't in the intent, but in the execution. The entire beach was covered in people out only to get drunk and have a good time - there was almost nothing about patriotism at all, and all pretenses to civility were absent. From pits with girls wrestling to trampolines for them to bounce on to kiddy pools filled with beer, there was a void of morals on the beach - it made me very sad, and made everyone in our group uncomfortable. I think that if the people who authored the Declaration had seen it they would have been disappointed. It was savage. 
