As we gather with friends and family today to celebrate the 230th anniversary of American independence, before firing up the grill and kicking back for evening fireworks, consider what the price of losing the Revolutionary War would have been for the Founders.
We now view the authors of American liberty as heroes, but to His Majesty’s Government, they were a treasonous lot. Those who rejected King George III’s Pax Britannia might find themselves dancing at the end of a hempen rope.
The patriots ultimately prevailed, despite daunting setbacks and defeats. One of the most enduring legacies the patriots left us was the Declaration of Independence. For in addition to listing the many grievances against the Crown, the Declaration was a mission statement, a roadmap to freedom:
“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 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 secure Safety and Happiness.”
This has been the “prime directive” of American liberty. The road hasn’t always been smooth, and the journey to equality is not yet ended.
It is for the principles articulated in the Declaration and our Constitution that millions of Americans have fought and many have died. As we celebrate here at home, we should remember we are a nation at war, with 150,000 Americans in harm’s way in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Despite its imperfections, American democracy certainly beats the alternatives: Much of the world chafes under authoritarian rule. The Russian Federation, nee the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is backsliding into autocracy. In the ostensibly free European Union, outrageous utterances that would draw little more than derisive laughter here can land a person in jail. That prompts a final reminder: There are those who would have you surrender hard-won liberties for security’s sake. Don’t believe them.
Have a happy and safe Fourth of July.
