Like millions of Americans I watched the simulation of the rocket's red glare on July 4th. But I sat in a very unique venue, the patio of the United Nations, as a guest of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. I have been reflecting on what we celebrated every day since. What does the US experience provide for the rest of the world?
The Declaration of Independence set forth a principle for political organization based on equity, not just for the people of North America, the people of 13 colonies, but for all people everywhere. The seeds of meaning in its words continue to grow, inspire, and guide people everywhere regarding the purposes of government:
“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…”
When it was first penned, its blessings did not embrace white men without sufficient property, any person of color, any indigenous person, or any women. If we read and apply it with a lens of original intent, (comma added) our society would be unacceptably stratified with far less equity than we enjoy today.
A fair reading today brings meanings that stimulate processes to expand basic freedoms, increase justice, and lead to the conclusion that all human beings hold ‘unalienable Rights.” These words resonate the world over and provide the basis for good governance, akin to the guidance of a compass.
This vision of equity in practice provided an essential reason for the US engagement in World War II.
At the 79th D-Day celebrations in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Normandy, France, on June 6, 2023, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reminded us that the men who stormed Normandy 79 years ago saved democracy.
And Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised those who “(T)ravelled thousands of miles from their birthplaces, and gave their lives so that others they didn't even know would remain free. They gave their lives for us, so that you and I would live free. Peace and freedom are never guaranteed. They must be guarded and cherished and sometimes fought for and paid in blood."
We should laud the General’s courage in standing up to the overreach of President Trump who sought to overturn the 2020 election. The General made it clear that protecting democracy, not undermining it, is the duty of our presidents.
So it came as no surprise when I heard that he asked for a copy of the communique to the D-Day event from President Roosevelt’s grandson Ford Roosevelt (Ambassador, USS Potomac of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial) so that he could frame it and hang it on his wall. I think we should all do likewise. Here are the communique’s inspiring words:
When my grandfather President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the Invasion of D-Day he prayed with full awareness that many would be called to courageously put their lives on the line to “fight not for the lust of conquest” but rather “to end conquest... to liberate” and to let justice and tolerance arise amongst all humanity.
Their sacrifices were made for a purpose worthy of our efforts today:
* “freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world.”
* “freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world.”
* “freedom from want ...everywhere in the world.”
* “freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.”
He said that this aspiration is “no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.”
Many fought and many gave their lives that the world would not be subject to authoritarian dictatorships anywhere, ever. Regrettably, today that challenge remains before us. I know my grandfather as well as my grandmother stands with us and all who struggle against oppression, willing to give all so that all may live in freedom.