We read the Declaration of Independence aloud last night at the Republican Liberty Caucus of San Diego meeting. This tradition started last year when a few of us read it at the Del Mar Fair. I won’t print all the words on this site but I invite you to read it before I continue.
This was (and still is) a radical document. One has to fully appreciate the politics of the day to understand its context. One on three colonists were loyal to the King, one in three were for the cause of secession from Great Britain, and one on three didn’t care at all. Of the 33% sympathetic to the cause, only one in eleven of those people were actually doing something about it– hence the name “Three Percenters“.
King George had the most powerful land army and the the most formidable navy in the world at the time. Those forces and an ambivalent populace painted a bleak picture for those who dared to affix their name to this very public break with the King. Those who signed it were certainly signing a death warrant should they be unsuccessful. Still, 56 prominent men signed their names to this treasonous document because they knew their cause was just.
A remarkable document it is. It starts with a logical premise– humans are born free. It follows with a recitation of the rights humans have which pre-exist government. It defines why humans form government and then defines the narrow function of government. It politely announces to the world, that separation from the Crown, demands that the grievances with it be aired publicly.
Then, it lets the King have it. They indicted the King with no less than two dozen encroachments. They reminded the King that this wasn’t the first time they brought those grievances to him and admonished his subjects for their indifference to the situation. They called the King a tyrant and told him that they quit. They closed with a statement of resolve which left no doubt that they would fight until they were humiliated, broke, or dead.
Today, we celebrate Independence Day with government sponsored parades. There are usually companies of the standing army marching, vehicles of the domestic security forces marching, local elected officials marching, students from government run schools marching, and a maybe a civic group or two marching with the government folk. I can only imagine the looks of horror on the colonial Americans’ faces: naked Quakers might be laying in front of military vehicles, the Sons of Liberty might be tarring and feathering the mounted Sherrff’s detachment, and the Puritans would be lecturing the school board members that education belonged in churches, not as a part of the Commons.
The colonial Americans were a reluctant coalition. The Puritans in Massachusetts Bay despised the Catholics in Maryland. The Dutchmen in New York thought the Georgians to be uncouth, the Virginians wanted little to do with anybody, and they ALL thought the Quakers were just wacky. All though, were aligned in the idea that they could govern themselves rather than be subjects of the British Crown.
They fought a revolution, won, then remained so suspicious of one another than they formed a weak federal government, designed resist concentrated power. They protected each others rights of expression (though might not have agreed with it) because they wanted their rights to express themselves protected. They respected property rights. They were different cultures but were aligned in their common need for trade and a common defense.
Government would have been the LAST thing they celebrated on Independence Day.
Today, we almost crave that blanket of security our government-sponsored parades and fireworks demonstrations offer us. I submit that today can, and should, be a reminder to us that Liberty is a virtue worthy of defense. That virtue is under continuous assault. Liberty is threatened by a meddlesome (and expensive) foreign policy, a welfare state, county sheriffs who deny you the right to self-defense, city councils who overregulate your property and business, and citizens who are complicit with their ambivalence.
Today is not a day to thank your Congressman for “keeping you safe”–it’s a day to ask him why he voted to detain American citizens without due process. Today is a day to ask your Assembly member why she voted to take more of your money and give it to people whom voted for her. Today is a day to demand that your city council stop building arenas for private businesses on taxpayers’ nickels. Today is a day to air your grievances, to put the political class on notice, and to remind your neighbors that, while you don’t always agree with them, you trust them more than the government hacks who meddle in both of your lives.
Today is a day to celebrate Independence, not government. Declare yours today, repeatedly, in word and in deed. Be proud of it because it was earned with your forebears’ lives, fortunes, and sacred honors.
Happy Independence Day. Declare it.