loonyblog.

Independence day.

Today is the Fourth of July, otherwise known as Independence Day here in the U.S. This day is naturally going to be co-opted by groups on every side of the fence, businesses looking to cash in, and gung-ho patriots looking for a reason to thump their chests around. So because of this, I thought I'd paste an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, the signing of which happened on this day 228 years ago (actually it's technically two days earlier, but the document is dated July 4th). Thomas Jefferson's words resonate as much today as they did then, and regardless of your political beliefs, they should be read, so as not to forget the power of this one document to change the course of history.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 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, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Happy Fourth of July.

Posted by jason at July 4, 2004 11:50 AM | TrackBack | Read more: Politics