Self evident truths, abuses, and usurpations...
As we celebrate the Fourth of July, it is worth a few minutes to reflect on what the birth of this “great experiment”, known as America really means. Consider these words from The Declaration of Independence:
“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…”
Are there any “self evident truths” and “unalienable rights” here in our modern age, or are these things just merely quaint, outdated ideas from a bygone era? Do these words somehow mean the “Creator” gives a woman the right to “terminate” pregnancies? What about the unborn child’s right to “Life”? How many Americans even acknowledge some sort of “Creator”? Does “pursuing Happiness” give a person the right to the fruits of the labor of others?
In dissolving the ties of government with Great Britain, our forefathers created this document, listing as the reason “a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations,” intended “to reduce them under absolute Despotism…” They further point out that because of these “Abuses and Usurpations,” it is “their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such government…”
What were some of these abuses considered so onerous that our Founding Fathers chose to risk life and property to eliminate? From the Declaration, here are just two:
“For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent…”
and because the King
“has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.”
Do you feel that the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s ordering of the NH House to fund a so-called “adequate education” borders on “taxation without representation?” Do you believe that the constant addition of more rules and regulations to control every aspect of our lives ever-growing numbers of government agents could be considered harassment?
While wishing all readers of this space a fun-filled Fourth of July celebration, we ask everyone to take a few moments in remembrance of the Founders of our great Nation and ask, "Are we twenty-first century Americans upholding the ideals put forth for all posterity on this fateful day in 1776?"
Comments
Posted by: Ira Fews | July 5, 2008 12:05 AM