Upstander Reflections

One of my favorite parts of The Wizard of Oz is when the ragtag group of travelers arrive in the Emerald City. The Wizard himself lives there so the place is well fortified and seems like a sort of utopia. The weary travelers get all cleaned up and treated like royalty.      Dorothy, enjoying some pampering from the good people of The Emerald City. Source However, it doesn’t take long for Dorothy and company to figure out that the whole place is a sham. They follow the “wizard’s” command and get the witch’s broom, but he can’t fulfill his end of the bargain. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” That’s how I felt last week as the G20 summit was transpiring. This is a yearly meeting when the 19 wealthiest countries and the European Union get together to discuss “important” matters. There were protests. There are always protests. There were photo opts. There are always photo opts. This year the big hype was around the new American preside...

It’s been 241 years since our Founding Fathers got together and drafted the Declaration of Independence. This year, I decided I would go back and actually read it. The only line I remember learning about what this one:    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. Here is a link to the online version I read if you want to give it a read. The Declaration of Independence It is a well written document and I’m it sure can be interpreted in many ways, but this is what I got from it: There are natural rights that all people should be granted (see above). It is the government’s job to protect those rights.   If the government does not protect those rights, then it is the right of the people to dissolve the government.   The king of Great Britain has mistreated us. Here is the long li...