On this most hallowed civic holiday in the United States, those of us in some cities and towns will have to endure the sights and sounds of another Tea Party Event, designed, in the words proclaimed on the web site of its organizers, for "declaring independence from tax-and-spend politicians."

As David Wiegel explains in the Washington Independent today, the whole tea party thing is "losing steam," and the protests tomorrow won't rival in size--or in the splendiferous presence of major Republican politicians--those back on April 15.

Maybe that's because "the movement" isn't visibly affecting public opinion. Maybe because some of the participants remembered that the time-honored way to "revolt" against elected officials you don't like is at the ballot box. Maybe others looked around on April 15 and saw themselves in less than good company.

Or maybe some would-be tea party-hardies thought it about it and realized that they shouldn't exploit our country's National Holiday and patriotic symbols to grind partisan and ideological axes, despite the frequent tendency of conservatives in recent years to do just that.

To those who may have made the decision to lay down the Obama-bashing cudgels for this one day, I will raise a glass of sweet iced tea in tribute.