I often think about what the “ideals” of the American Revolution really meant liberty, representation, independence. Those words once sounded like the language of emancipation. But today, they feel like trademarks owned by corporations and politicians who use them to justify wars, inequality, and the myth of “freedom through consumption.” The Revolution promised self-determination, yet most Americans live under economic systems they cannot controlworking long hours to survive while wealth accumulates in the hands of a tiny elite. If Jefferson’s dream was human dignity through freedom, how does that fit in a world where healthcare, housing, and education are treated as commodities?