“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 whenever 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 powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, Signed by Our Founding Fathers, July 4, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence means as much as we, the people, give it deliberate thought, firm conclusion, and committed action.
Read it for yourself and think about it on your own for a while during this special day in our nation’s history. What does it mean to you today in light of all we have endured and overcome in the past 235 years of America’s life? Are these familiar sections of the document still living words and ideas that mean something to us in our everyday lives? Or are they more like the token, memorized expressions of mindless salute we all give on cue to all those grand aspirations that we never really treat in the trenches of our personal lives as having much to do with our ordinary struggles?
Ask yourselves: What can we all do in 2011 to better live the words that were at the heart of why we celebrate this day in the first place?
Happy Independence Day, Everybody!
Tags: Independence Day Essay
The Pecan Park Eagle 
July 4, 2011 at 2:49 pm |
Interesting to ponder as our current government leads us to the prescipice of bankruptcy under the illusion that it is “too big to fail”.
July 4, 2011 at 11:41 pm |
Which current government: the one running the Senate, or the one running the House?
The one running the House took a huge surplus and ran it into the biggest deficit in history. We’re still trying to climb out of that hole.
The one running the Senate saved Chrysler, GM, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and about a gazillion jobs.
July 9, 2011 at 2:31 pm |
Nowhere in either the Constitution or the Declaration is the word “entitlements”.
July 10, 2011 at 6:30 am |
Very true. Nor does it say anything about funding a homeland security department, an interstate highway system, body guards for the president, a Veterans’ Administration, or corporate welfare. So I guess we should ditch all those things also, eh? Well, I vote for ditching corporate welfare, anyway. Sheesh – how did GE manage to avoid paying any taxes last year?
But really, why wouldn’t we prioritize taking care of each other’s health at least as much as we prioritize taking care of our highways? It seems so logical not to subject our health to speculation as if it were a commodity like pork bellies or corn futures. Do you really want a bunch of corporate management types profiting off denying you cancer treatment?
Well, if that’s the American way, then I guess I’ll resign myself to it. I wouldn’t want my patriotism to be questioned. However, I wouldn’t rush to ditch Medicaid too quickly, at least not until Michelle Bachman and her husband can finish cashing in on their retirement income.