July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 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.
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.--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."
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
July 5, 2012
The Ramblings of a Heifer Walrus
So begins the Declaration of Independence. After that most powerful disertation a list of objections are listed, and finally, the point: you won't treat us right and we're not putting up with it any more. I read The Declaration of Independence every year, and every year it speaks to me like a living breathing thing. It amazes me. The power, self-assurance, and INTELLIGENCE of the men who started this crazy thing called the United States of America. They amaze me. The power and Truth of what they've left behind for us make my head swirl.
Of course when my head swirls trouble tends to happen.
All I could think of when I was reading our Declaration of Independence is the same thing that I thought of on MLK Day:
The very thing we rallied against so strongly we continue to put onto others who we deem "unworthy" of those same things that we fought, died, and rebelled for. The things we DEMANDED for ourselves we are CONTINUALLY keeping from others.
Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness- it's something we all want. It's something we've quite clearly stated as something that is given to us by our Creator, not our Government, and yet we are still allowing our Government to keep these unalienable Rights from our Brothers and Sisters. But of course, we've had to recalibrate our closed-minds to include people of "color" as actual "people." We had to do a similar recalibration after 9-11 to remind ourselves that not all Muslims are terrorists. We've realized several times over that we exclude our fellow Humans from The Human Condition- and yet we continue to do it.
Gay people are people too. They deserve the same Civil Rights, Respect, and Liberties that we've demanded for ourselves.
It's time that we realize that THERE IS A SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, and that it was made to keep our closed-mindedness from impededing on the unalienable Rights of our fellow Humans. That more evil has been carried out in the name of Religion than anything else, and that it is time to STOP EXCLUDING and START INCLUDING. STOP JUDGING others for something you don't believe in or understand and START ACCEPTING them for who they are and what they have to offer this world.
IT'S 2012 - 236 YEARS LATER- CAN WE GET IT TOGETHER HERE PEOPLE??
LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS FOR ALL- EQUALITY!!
