July 4th is the day that Americans have set aside to celebrate the several days in the hot summer of 1776 in Philadelphia when a few brave, idealistic, and visionary British colonists set out to craft into words why they were declaring themselves independent from the British Empire. The result of this endeavor was the Declaration of Independence, one of the most unique and powerful statements of individual rights ever crafted in the history of mankind.
With that document, that handful of brave, idealistic, and visionary men established the precedent of individual liberty over the power of any government that became the hallmark for our American way of life. In the years that followed, this group of men, often with only little popular support, argued for, fought for, and sometimes died for the ideals that they presented in that Declaration, and by the grace of God, they eventually prevailed.
What we really celebrate, then, in 2008 is the vision, bravery, and sacrifice that these men offered their fellow citizens so that we have the right to determine for ourselves what our future might hold. Simply by celebrating, we reaffirm those ideas of liberty that they first presented after long days of debate. We stand with those men, declaring our allegiance to that same vision of freedom.
Of course, when July 4th passes, most of us return to our daily routine, and while we know intellectually the ideas of the Founding Fathers presented in the Declaration of Independence, we demonstrate that we practically have no idea what those ideas mean. We choose to subserviate ourselves to a modern ruling class in the form of congressmen, senators, state representatives, and local council members who increasingly do not represent the ideals of Independence, let alone our own ideals.
As a result, America slowly drifts away from the liberty and self-determination established in 1776 that allowed this nation and its individual citizens to become prosperous and great. As the power becomes more and more concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people who represent us less and less and their own agendas more and more, liberty and self-determination become threatened along with the prosperousness and greatness that resulted from them.
However, all is not lost. In spite of the trends away from liberty and self-determination in our current government, this trend can be corrected simply because, in the end, the government is the individual. When Americans as voters, as the very people who place the government into power, decide that the current course of the government is no longer in their interest, then Americans can change that government peacefully in the direction they want it to go.
In order to do so, Americans have to care, but as the Founding Fathers demonstrated, not even that many Americans have to care to make a difference. If even a few more visionary and idealistic-yes, even brave-Americans become politically aware and active, those Americans have the power to reshape the American political process as fundamentally as the Declaration of Independence did 232 years ago.
The result of this change can be profound and just as enduring as the legacy of the 4th of July. These few Americans, who take upon themselves to correct the trend of the past century of American government, can themselves reestablish the ideals of liberty and self-determination that made American great and strong. The nation is waiting for the next generation of visionary idealists. Are you one of them?
I read the DofI again this morning, and was struck by the audacity of the men who signed it — an audacity highlighted by stark contrast to the complacency that we, their political heirs, exhibit on a daily basis. May your post, and the hundreds like it floating around in cyberspace today, encourage a few more people to put down their remotes and join the fight.
Thanks.