Today marks the 247^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and while a better date for the founding of our great nation is September 17^th, 1787, this is America’s birthday.  Since the country was founded, it has grown from 13 independent states with about 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with a population of more than 330 million. The economy has grown from roughly $160MM to over $26T, with a median household income has risen from roughly $17.30/year above $70K/year.  We have enjoyed huge scientific and technological advances, built almost 4 million miles of paved roads, and created a standard of living that is the envy of the world.  All this terrific progress in only 247 years and still there are people in our great nation that harken for the so-called privileges of the elite in the past.

Today, almost 90% of adults have a basic education and about 35% have college degrees (up from 2% in 1780 and 25% of those degrees were in theology).  We live longer (up from 65 years to 79 years on average), we work less (down from 6 twelve-hour days to 5 eight-hour days on average), we have more material wealth, more freedoms, travel FAR more, and even smell better (those who could afford a bath tub bathed a few times a month, but the poor were likely to bathe only once a year).  Still the lunatic right wants to harken to the age of slavery and white privilege.  They are fools.  Why would anyone give up the progress we have made as a nation for some nostalgic myth?

The Declaration states: “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. …”  The powers mentioned would be government voted on by the eligible voters. At that time, that would have been white men who owned property.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution get a lot of press.  These were certainly important to our national ethos in 1793 but let’s look a bit further.  The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, and the 14th Amendment declared that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The 14th Amendment declared that representatives in the House shall be apportioned according to the number of persons in that state. This means everyone — babies, residents whether legal or not, registered to vote or not. Everyone living in the state is entitled to representation, not just the moneyed elite.  Amendment 15, adopted on March 30, 1870, declared that “… the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. …” Amendment 19 in 1920 gave women the right to vote in national elections.  The 23 Amendment gave citizens of the District of Columbia, the right to have three electors for president and a representative.  Amendment 26 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

Our nation was not born perfect, it is certainly not perfect today, but we are making slow and steady progress.  Constitutional amendments have all been to include more voters, guarantee freedoms and participation to more citizens, and protect the fundamental right of everyone.  We have fought for civil equality of all citizens (more work needs to be done on gender equality but we are still fighting).  We have eliminated many of the social, economic, and societal abuses heaped on us by King George’s Parliament (lack of representation, slavery, unregulated judicial practices, etc) and we are attempting to “…make a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility…”  Its hard, slow work and we can do better, but much progress has been made.

The radical right, however, wants to undo two centuries of progress.  Some states are rolling back these freedoms and attempting to return us to a less free America.  They are regulating the polls; exclude voters by creating selectively enforced ID laws; placing restrictions when and where people can vote with the intent of disenfranchising low-income and minority voters.  These states are regulating how fundamental ownership of even one’s own body in that they are denying women’s health and gender identity to their citizens.  These luddites want to make the Betsy Ross flag be a symbol of slavery and demand that everyone follow THEIR religion, not publish any articles criticizing their ideal or political candidates, and restricting the right to protests when they institute tyrannical laws.  They deny due process to persons of color, immigrants, and the poor.  They take over our cherished institutions (effectively quartering their troops and making us pay for their upkeep).  They conduct unlawful searches – particularly of persons of color and non-citizens.  They raise have subverted the very machine of government, intended to protect freedoms into a force for tyranny and this is happening on a scale that George III could never dream of.

We must stop it.  Remember, we are the people who had the moxie to stand up the greatest empire in the world and say enough is enough.  We are the nation that stopped fascist domination of the world and the spread of totalitarianism in the 20^th Century.  We are great, and will become greater so long as we remember who we are and what we stand for. 

The radical right likes to use the phrase “make America great again,” as if we ever stopped being the envy of the world.  Don’t let them take away that which we lived and died to create.  The American Revolution is not the same as the Revolutionary War.  We are still fighting the American Revolution and must never stop until we HAVE created a world where “all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.”  We must constantly fight to “create a more perfect union.”  Because when we stop, the monsters win and we slide back into tyranny.

So on this Fourth of July, please:

• Stand up for the rights of those less fortunate
• Protests and fight for the rights of those who are not fully free
• Rebel against tyranny in all its forms
• Stand proud of who we are, where we come from, and where we are going
• And finally, remember that we are not perfect but we are great and we can be greater and more perfect

Happy Decolonization Day.

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