“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.”
This line of text, from the American Declaration of Independence, of which the majority of Americans will only remember the first words of, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”, are the single most important words leading up to the foundation of this Nation. Far too often people will read this and stop with “created equal” believing that is the end of a sentence. In fact it is not. It is merely the opening clause in a series of continuous clauses that establish why a people, first, have a right to just government; second, how that government comes to be; and third, the right to change or created anew a government that will ensure their unalienable rights are not infringed. This is the foundational principle that this Nation was founded upon. It is, simply put, the core of Americanism; which was the realization of at least two centuries of philosophical work.
It finds its import from the opening, that part all Americans remember, “all men are created equal”. What does this mean though? Let us, maybe, think about what it does not mean, or rather what it is not saying. It is not saying that only Americans are created equal; surely not since this Nation did not exist when the words were written. It is not saying that only citizens are created equal. It is not saying that only whites, or Christians, or people who we are friends with, are created equal. No, it is not saying any of these things. It is not giving us this option. It says “all” men, or all people if you wish, are created equal. It continues to say that “all” people have unalienable rights that include: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
This means that the foundational principle of this nation is saying that all people, everyone, regardless of gender, nationality, race, religion, and on and on and on, are created equal with a right to life, liberty, and happiness. More plainly, it states the truth of universal equality. So what does that say about a man, a group of people, who actively attempt to limit and deny certain groups of people from their rights?
It means, simply, that these people completely disregard the very foundational principle that set out the rights of people to create a government that would ensure their Life, Liberty, and their pursuit of Happiness. They completely disregard universal equality. It means that these people are the enemy of human equality. Enemies of human justice. It means those that support these people are complicit in crimes against humanity, complicit is marginalizing
American citizens, complicit in the denial of basic human rights.
The current President, largely his staff, and his supporters, are enemies of the Nation. They are enemies of the body politic. They are an enemy to liberal democratic practices. They are enemies of basic human rights. The current President has shown himself to be completely devoid of care of equality and justice. He has acted to empower himself, his family, his friends, and only those that agree with him. He, and his supporters, have actively attempted to manipulate truth by employing authoritarian tactics to distort reality and warp the minds of those that support him. This is not speculation, or wild conjecture. It is factual in his actions, in his words, and in his policies. One must only open ones eyes and ears to see the truth of it.
The Founding Fathers of this Nation had many flaws, but we can all agree that a philosophy of universal equality was not one of them. The current President has more flaws then can be mentioned, the worst of all, the one the drives his behavior, is that he does not believe in universal equality, he only believes in power, money, and the supremacy of his own greatness; these qualities do not make a man a great leader, these qualities make dictators. If we, as a body politic, wish justice for all, then we must break the bands of this government and instill one that will defend universal equality.
The social revolution must come to pass.
Rocky Mountain Musing 