It is time to call out those who would betray the Declaration of Independence
The comic strip, Barney and Clyde, yesterday had Clyde saying, “I don’t celebrate Independence Day on the fourth. The fourth was the day we declared independence. War followed. England didn’t give in until September 3, 1783. So what we are really celebrating is intent, not achievement. It’s nuts!”
Sorry Clyde, it’s not nuts. It’s America. It’s what we do; we dream. We offer the American dream. The fourth of July is not a time to remember a static date in American history. It’s a time to rededicate ourselves to the courage and the idealism of those who signed that intent, that assertion, that momentous Declaration of Independence.
What does the Declaration of Independence say?
“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 those are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
How does Abraham Lincoln remember that milestone some eighty seven years later?
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
These are the Patriots who founded and forged the United States of America. Even as they wrote and spoke those words they had to know that they were not describing a reality but a dream, an intent, a Declaration. There are some who would judge those Founding Fathers by their deeds and not by their intentions. They held slaves. They denied women the right to vote. They denied those without property the right to vote.
But they did write and speak those words, and those words hovered over their deeds and judged them, and those words inspired those who followed them.
But there are those among us who see a very different America. They do not believe that all people are created equal. They do not believe that all people have a right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. They are not interested in intentions, only achievements and only their own.
They believe in a new “divine right,” the divine right of the rich to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us. They do not believe that government exists to “form a more perfect union”, but rather that government exists solely to impede their acquisition of yet more wealth.
Some of these people wrap themselves in a distorted memory of one of those events that led to the Declaration of Independence. The Tea Party was not about raising taxes. England had lowered taxes, and in doing so disadvantaged local traders. The first Tea Party was about rule without the consent of the governed. It most certainly was not about protesting taxes decided by a representative body of the electorate.
They have turned American history upside down
John Winthrop is not usually listed among the pantheon of Founding Fathers, but as a leader of the Plymouth Bay Colony, he certainly has a claim to the title. Winthrop wrote in 1630
"We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality."
These people advance their own individual wealth while denying others the ability to pursue their own more restrained versions of Happiness. They would most certainly have no interest in abridging themselves of their superfluities. To augment their "superfluities" they would deny others access to education, health care, pensions, and even decent wages. In so doing, they undermine that most fundamental of American values – equal opportunity.
Who are these people? Some of them are very, very rich. Others are not. Some of them are very, very influential. Others, less so. Some are very, very clear in where they want to take America. Others don’t quite connect the dots. Some call themselves members of the Tea Party. Others are quite content to let the Tea Party be their front organization. Some are Republicans. Some call themselves Democrats. Some cover themselves in judicial robes.
But they need to be called out. They need to called what they really are – traitors to the values, the intent, the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.
I will mince no words in my contempt for those who lead this effort, whoever they are – whether they be the infamous Koch brothers or their front men, including Karl Rove and Grover Norquist, or any of the contemptible politicians who pander to their self-centered ideology. Their ideal of governance is a state that submits only to the will of the wealthy.
Clyde, what is nuts is not reaffirming the intentions of those well-intentioned, if very human, Founding Fathers. To do otherwise is turn the country over to the traitors, and to the nuts.
Wed Jul 04, 2012 at 2:55 PM PT: Re-reading a year later, it rings even truer.