This weekend we are supposed to be celebrating the 233rd anniversary of our countries birth. Independence Day may not only be celebrated in the US (although other countries have different days they celebrate their independence), it is our Independence Day celebrations that all other are measured by. And not simply because ours are done up to an incredible degree, but because many around the world long for the day they can call themselves American, light a sparkler, sing the National Anthem out of tune, and be a part of the greatest country on Earth, the greatest gift of God ever bestowed on mankind as a whole outside of the birth of Christ.

How is it that we became such a great country when most of the world barely managed to progress past the turn of the century in building techniques, innovation of farming techniques, human rights and the expectation of class association, a near complete lack of economic prosperity and an almost total lack of education?

Think about it for a minute. China has been around for some 4000 years and yet has a huge uneducated population in the rural areas of the country, their record on human rights is dismal and despite being an economic powerhouse these days, most of what they produce is cheap expendable trash. But they buy our debt…

Russia is another example of a great country that never really got it together and they have had a 1000 plus years to do it. The worst part of their story is any progress they made in the last half of the 20th century is being lost to the re-institution of the old school hard liners slowly but surely, as they trade security for liberty all over again, and in the blink of an eye of a single generations passing.

Look at any of the countries that are close to our age, most of the South American continent, rich as we are in natural resources, yet the way they treat their people, the way they treat their neighbors, and the old world mentalities they brought with them to the other New World.

If we look to the perhaps the oldest of modern human societal embodiment we find the continent of Africa, where once great civilizations flourished, the land of the Pyramids, with civilizations older than even those of China, yet what do we see today? Tribal fighting that has gone on nearly as long as their history itself. Poverty and starving have replaced Ethiopia’s once great empire just as Egypt no longer shines bright and is often seen as a reverted third world country where it was once perhaps the only modern land.

Europe today resembles the Europe of 200 years ago, calmer perhaps, but still broiling with dispute and always leery of next outbreak of World War as they now deal with the aftermath of weakened former Soviet republics. Once great Rome and Greece are but to be found in the history books and not even considered when the major events in combined human future endeavors are postulated. Much the same applies to the cradle of modern humanity in the Middle East, Baghdad, Tehran, Istanbul, all the way to Ankara; seem to be stuck in a Groundhog Day scenario where each century looks like the last.

No, we are special. But again I ask why? What was it about our forefathers that gave us the foundation for what we were to become? Could it be as simple as the idea that those that came here came by choice? Not all did. Many were told to leave their homes and go the New World so as to be out of the sight and mind of the Old World. Could it be that we had some natural resource so unexpected that any group of people who found themselves here with knowledge of how to use it would have created the same kind of prosperity? I doubt it as so much of the planet is rich in elemental resources that many have risen and collapsed based on their use in the past.

None of that applies to this land more or less than in many lands populated over the millennia that have past. The simple answer is to be found not in the people or the resources they availed themselves to, but to the documents on which they founded this independent land.

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

And with these simple words a new nation was set forth and new road on which world history would be established. It is in the simplistic understanding that “one people” can move forward together with equal yoke towards a better life for all involved that made so different this country from all others. It was also done with an undeniable and unshakable truth that God has given to mankind the rights they would reclaim for all who were to participate in this land, God capitalized so as not to be confused.  

They continued with what it is that God gives to mankind, all mankind, “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.” Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Not a guarantee that all would share in the richness of what lie ahead, but that all had a right to do so. To each would be accorded, based on their talents, work ethic and desire, the fruits of their toil.

They went on to ensure that all people of this land would understand what this new entity they were establishing was for, from where it gained it’s authority and who it must serve. “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And in the historically accurate premonition of how to deal with their creation should it evolve into something not described above, “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to 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.” “…To Effect THEIR Safety and Happiness.” Not the government’s happiness nor the government’s safety, but the people’s.

Next came a warning about human nature and how it can slow the progression of self reliance, “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” Is that what we have become, suffering for a lack of action on our parts?

It is in these words that our nation was created, (followed of course by the Constitution which made clear the rights of the people and the boundaries government would not cross, if only our representatives would remember that document) with the supreme understanding that man creates the institutions for which he shall be answerable in the end. This is what made us great, this is what keeps us great.

So why, as we fully engage in the 21st century, do we seem to be headed in the wrong direction? Where the government envisioned by those monumentally forward thinking men was to safe guard the freedom and liberty of the people, it now forces limits on that freedom in the form of what doctor you can see, who you may or may not want to associate with, to what extent you can utilize your gifts and to what extent you may now be rewarded for those gifts when you have applied the desire and hard word to bring them to fruition. Thrust upon us in this year more so than any other in our history is debt that we can collectively never repay, borrowed in our name, when the market should have been allowed to “level the playing field”, a term so adored by those on the opposite side of the aisle.

Your safety and happiness, your life, liberty and pursuit of that happiness; these are the government’s mandates, nothing more and by God, nothing less. We stand today on the very precipice warned of in the Declaration of Independence, “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,…” It is here we find ourselves. Yet here too we find ourselves, “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” Not one American wants to see the abolishment of this, the greatest form of self governance ever devised, but alter it we must. A return to the principals that once guided the decisions our representatives make must be enacted.

And to alter the course of this now out of control government too is established in our founding documents. The VOTE! Retained by each and every one of us is the right to make our desires known. It is the simple act of voting that maintains within us the true power of this country. Idealistic and simplistic though it may sound, it is the real power to shape, mold and reclaim our country from the misguided and sometimes malicious who sit in the seats of power we bestowed upon them.

“Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.” With the truth Benjamin Franklin left us do we need to further guess at what point we have given up enough to claim the lack of both.

I write this today not out of malicious discontent with our government, as it is the government WE voted for, but not nearly enough of US took our responsibility seriously. It is estimated that in the 2008 election, of the 300 million citizens in this country 168 million were registered to vote, and of those 122 million or 73% turned out. While that is up considerably from past elections, it still is not good enough. 25% of the US population is under the age of 18, according to the Census Bureau, so by that math 225 million should have been of voting age, which means just over half the eligible population made the choice on what direction this government would move in the future.

That would be saddening if not maddening to the men who fought and died that we would have that right.

Well Mr. Franklin, let’s hope another quote from you does not one day come to pass, “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, — if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, farther, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.

  • Speech to the Constitutional Convention (28 June 1787)

I certainly hope despotism is not our final stop because I believe we are capable of so much more.

But what would I know; I’m just an Average American.

PS: Yes I know it isn't Sunday.