Why We Are Here
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.
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We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,
That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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I posted this on Democracy Cell Project, too, but I wanted to be sure that johnkerry.com readers saw this, in case they missed the original hard copy in last Sunday’s Globe.
If justice had prevailed in Nov. 2004, this article would not be so piercingly relevant as it is in the current wretched circumstances… sigh.
“Georgian America:why George III would have felt right at home in George W. Bush’s Washington” (by Geoffrey Wheatcroft), a most pertinent article from the July 1 “Ideas” section of the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/07/01/georgian_america/
Great illustration of our “King George” at the top.
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ALTHOUGH THE UNITED KINGDOM and United States are, on the face of it, comparable democracies, to watch the way Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair must remind Americans how politically different the two countries really are. . .
But there is a deeper difference between the countries that is even more striking: It’s American politics, not British politics, that is from the 18th century.
The Founding Fathers consciously reacted against England and tried to create a new polity free from the ills of the old, with separation of powers, checks and balances, and a Bill of Rights. But there was another side, which illustrates Karl Marx’s saying that when we try to make sense of fresh events we are like a man learning a new language who instinctively translates back to the language he knows, and England was the language the framers knew. .
. . .
In many ways, the political system of a kingdom ruled by one George 230 years ago survives in a republic ruled by another today: Georgian England has found its unlikely political offspring in Georgian America.
. . .
one planned the combination of parliamentary government and constitutional monarchy in the way the Founders planned the Constitution, but the British system has turned out to work rather well in practice, with another kind of “separation of powers,” formal and practical. By way of defending the monarchy, George Orwell said in 1944, in one of his “London letters” to the American magazine Partisan Review, that people need parades, flags, and the other paraphernalia of patriotism, and “it is better that they should tie their leader-worship onto some figure who has no real power”—the queen in the palace rather than those who really do rule the country. “It is at any rate possible that while this division of function exists a Hitler or Stalin cannot come to power,” Orwell suggested.
Because of the gradual change of the monarchy into a figurehead or constitutional fiction, no one could possibly say in England today that, in the words of Dunning’s famous parliamentary motion of 1780, “the power of the crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.” But if you substitute “presidency” for “crown,” that might strike a chord with Americans.
Of course, even that power of Orwell’s phrase can find its limits. After all, the most bitter resemblance of all between George III and George W. is that they both found themselves fighting distant, unwinnable wars.
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See more at the url above… really worth a careful read.
Happy 4th to all.
Thanks Rick for posting this reminder of what really is important and a thank you also to mbk for the Globe article. Food for thought.
On this day when we celebrate this most important day, when we celebrate with friends and family and enjoy the fireworks and the barbecues we must also say a prayer for our troops who are so bravely serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have the best armed forces in the world who are in harm’s way. So I pray that they will get to return home soon to their families.
While we must continue to hold the administration’s policy in Iraq accountable we must never waiver in our support of our troops. I hope and pray to the Lord, that this democratic Congress will now have the courage to stand up to a failed policy in Iraq and a president who will listen to no one but his inner circle. We can’t wait till September of this year or January of 2009, we need a new foreign policy in Iraq from this Congress. It is time for them to deliver on their campaign promises of 2006.
You are correct Probus about our troops, we must not forget their sacrifices or our duty to them to make sure our government gets the policies right in Iraq.
I am known to mention voting reform for the most tangential of reasons. Can’t seem to stop urging people to get involved, and help prevent our very laws, elections, and peaceful transfer of power, become just another corporate takeover by private companies.
A once sacred trust given to companies not known for a good product, honest dealings, and over to the Election Assisatnce Commission (EAC), with the newest pending legislation. Four presidential appointees in cahoots with the vendors, concealing their problems, deciding the equipment, the regulations, without a good record since their creation by HAVA in 2002.
When you remember that GW Bush told TV viewers during the FL recount that what we needed was computers, and repeated by every other GOP, that should have warned us that counting the vote was more important than casting the vote.
Remember that all computers are vulnerable and can never be made secure. Electronic voting machines, with or without paper trails, prevent appropriate citizen observation and understanding how votes are recorded, cast, stored, handled, and counted. Voters can’t observe the recording and casting of their own votes and ballot. Election observers can’t observe the storage, handling, and counting of the votes and ballots.
Meaningful observation is the basis of all election legitimacy. Historically, the only reason that elections have been conducted in a non-understandable or non-observable way has been to enable those who are running the election to commit fraud.
Verification of information on a touchscreen or on a paper trail are both placebo exercises, because neither is counted for initial tallies nor the vast majority of final tallies. Instead, invisible electronic votes inside the electronic voting machine, which voters cannot verify and observers cannot safeguard, determine election outcomes.
Please go to: http://www.votersunite.org/info/s1487Report.asp and learn how the current Senate Rules Committee legislation undermines the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, and creates even newer disenfranchisement.
In fact, legislation to completely avoid examination of the electronic ballots from the touchscreen machines: the vendors don’t want seen a bad product, and the election directors want instant closure on a turn key election, purchased complete down to the paper clips. No fuss, no bother, and no more Democracy.
Langston Hughes Poem:
The Declaration of Independence was a strong seed. It suggests things that are possible, but have not yet come to pass. It is, in that way, a challenge from all who came before, the Mothers and Fathers of this nation, to all who come after to bring that simple promise of Jefferson’s to fruition.
“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…”
It is a promise as yet unkept, we are not all created equal yet, not all respected in our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But it is a promise that must be honored. That is the real meaning of the 4th of July and of celebrating the rule of law and the documents of freedom. America is not yet there, not yet at one with it’s own promise. But we will be. As Langston Hughes said in another poem:
Terri,
Thank you for posting such inspirational words.