The Declaration of Independence: a Document for the Future

Another Independence Day has now come and gone, and with it the usual fireworks, and parades, and occasional thoughts of what this day might mean to all of us. It means something about Freedom, and Liberty, and isn't there something in there about
Happiness? Well, that day is now over, so it's back to work, isn't it. But it's worth taking a few more minutes to consider two specific areas of the Declaration, because they set a social precedent that is worth reconsidering in a bit more detail.

The beginning of the second paragraph are words to treasure for all eternity. They set forth the basic concept of all human relationships, and relationships with governments for all people for all time. "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."

Now we haven't been able to do this in this country, but we are trying. The "tricky" adjustment we made, in the beginning, to make blacks 3/5ths of a person, was just our human frailty again, trying to "get around" a difficult standard that we couldn't meet at that time. But we eventually did, didn't we, it only took us  about two hundred years. But the point is, it is the words in our Declaration of Independence that lead us in this direction. What magnificence.

This statement includes the basic ideals that all nations must strive to emulate if their people are to have a  share of human dignity.  Not all countries, however, do this, and the recent encounter of the Somali pirates with the Russian commandos clearly illustrates this deficiency in Russian politics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT6WI4SBwx4

After the pirates captured a Russian ship, the Russian commandos boarded the ship, and took the pirates prisoner. As the above link to the film shows, the Somalis were placed in their boat, and sent off to die in a massive explosion presumably controlled by the Russian soldiers.

When I first heard about this incident, I thought " the Russians know how to handle these SOBs don't they," but on second thought I realized their behavior was based on an absence of other, more fundamental principles.

It costs money and time to handle captured pirates. Food, guards, courts,

transportation, all these things must be managed to bring these criminals to justice. The Declaration, instructs us that these people have "certain unalienable rights" so we do all these time consuming and expensive things because we believe that each individual has rights that are beyond our government's powers. It's our obligation. The Russians, on the other hand, do not have a "Declaration of Independence." Unfortunately, they have treated these criminals as objects, and not as people. I for one would rather live in our "Declaration society." I only realized this when I looked at this video (I suggest you do it), and thought about our Declaration of Independence.

One other point needs mentioning. Stalin tried to eliminate  all religion from Russia under his rule. He did this because he wanted to create a society in which the government, in the eyes of the people,  was supreme. In the United States, even though there are forces that are fighting against it, our founders believed in "in God we trust." Our government is not supreme--and that's evident as we  watch the Congress try to handle our debt crisis.

One other area of our Declaration deserves mention as we pass through this July 4th, and that's the very end: "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."

I've been at a lot of meetings in my life: Board meetings, medical society meetings, and on, and on, and on. I have, many times, imagined that the Chairman of one of these would say, "I have motion on the floor that we pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. Do I have a second?" At that moment I imagine that the hall would be as quite as a tomb.

So next July 4th, I suggest, you think about the depth of commitment of the Founders. It is hard to match today. The only group I know of that actually tries to do this is our military, and they should be venerated for this. Also, think about how difficult it has been for us to live up to the promise of "all men are created equal," but also think about how each of us benefits from this laudable standard. I wouldn't want it any other way, because that's our promise of Liberty.