Week 23: Declaration

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:

1. There are natural rights that all people should be granted (see above).
2. It is the government’s job to protect those rights.  
3. If the government does not protect those rights, then it is the right of the people to dissolve the government.  
4. The king of Great Britain has mistreated us. Here is the long list of things he has done.
5. Therefore, we declare that we are our own nation and we plan to risk everything to defend that.

Numbers 1-3 are borrowed right from European Enlightenment thinkers, ironically mostly Great Britain's own John Locke. However, numbers 4 and 5 are personal. The last line shows just how much these men were risking:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,

we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.   

These men were the wealthy elite of the thirteen colonies. They had everything to lose. What upset them so much that they were willing to risk it all?

Well, a lot of things. Here are a few of the things that upset them that I relate to today.

1. They were mad about laws they wanted to pass that they felt were held up by the king.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

This week, our president suggested that congress repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. It seems that this would not be “most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” But Mike, the Founding Fathers didn’t have universal healthcare, why should we? This is true, but that’s because they didn’t have modern medicine. The life expectancy in the late 1700s was in the high 30s as opposed to today’s in the high 70s. If there was medicine that could double their life expectancy, I would like to think they would have thought that was “necessary for the public good.”

2. They were mad because the king made legislative bodies meet in weird places in order to imposed his will on them.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

Remember in April when the president called the entire Senate to the White House for a briefing on North Korea? Why did he do that? Nothing seem to come from the briefing. Could it have been “for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures?”  

Senators board buses at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)

3. They were mad because he made it difficult for people to immigrate to the colonies.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.   

The president has made it clear, that he does not want Muslims to come to our country.

"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the

United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on,"

-Campaign Press Release

December 7, 2015

Since he became president, he has been unable to pass this ban because it’s been deemed unconstitutional (thanks Founding Fathers), but just this week a “watered down version” (his words) was allowed to pass. It is very clear that he is not “encouraging their migrations hither.”     

4. They were mad because he pitted Americans against each other.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.

This week the president tweeted a video of himself attacking a person with the face of CNN (one of the largest news organization in the United States). He has a history of this. At many of his rallies before the election, he led the crowds in chants of “lock her up,” referring to his opponent Hillary Clinton, and on more than one occasion there was violence at his rallies.  It seems to me that he is trying to excite “domestic insurrections amongst us.”

5. Lastly, they were mad because they viewed themselves as free people and saw the king’s character as “unfit” to be their ruler.      

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant,

is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

This week, our president was in a twitter spat with some morning TV show hosts. There was bipartisan agreement that this behavior was “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” His response was this:

A lot has changed in 241 years. Most notably for us is the expansion of these “natural rights” to more groups of people, like women and people of color. However, what hasn’t changed is the workings of a tyrannical leader. When the Founding Fathers made their fateful declaration that we are celebrating this week, they did so because the values they held so dear to their heart could not be reconciled to their current situation.  

Can ours?

Will we let our poor and most vulnerable lose their healthcare?  

Will we allow our president to bully our legislative bodies?

Will we stand idly by as our president dictates who is allowed into our country?

Will we let our president pit us against each other?

Will we lower our heads in shame as the president belittles the character of our people?

Or

Will we make a declaration, like our Founding Fathers did, and risk it all to uphold our values?

This fourth of July, as we eat hotdogs and watch fireworks, I implore each one of us to think about the courage of the Founding Fathers, and reach deep into the values that make us Americans. Don’t just celebrate America. Celebrate American values. Let’s make a declaration to uphold American Values as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence 241 years ago.

Together we say…  

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,

we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.