Fourth Of July--Independence Day

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! As we enjoy our get-togethers with family and friends on this the 236th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I want to wish everyone the fun and celebratory nature of the holiday. But each year I reflect on what it took to get there, best exemplified by Emerson's Concord Hymn, which I share with you below.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those spirits dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

The hymn was written to celebrate the unveiling of the Concord Memorial, and as a reminder that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
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Always Check The Warning Label

A few months back, a book publisher took a lot of heat for putting a warning label on a collection of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and a few other works by the Founders. The company CEO seemed surprised both by the warning and the reaction to it, and promised to look into it. As of yesterday, several reporters, including Fox News, have determined that nothing has been done about the cautionary wording.

The warning that Wilder Publications opens the collection with goes as follows: "This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today." I mentioned this little piece of self-censorship a few months back, assuming that once the owners and publishers became aware of its silliness, they would remove the warning. I was wrong. Facts and circumstances change, but eternal values do not. I hope this house doesn't publish Bibles too.

The Constitution embodies the hopes and aspirations of a free, self-governing people. In order to save the states from breaking apart after the failure of the Articles of Confederation, the Founders who took the Declaration at its word reluctantly allowed the Southern states to obtain Congressional representation by counting a slave as three-fifths of a person. That might require a cautionary warning, but short attention spans shouldn't overwhelm the necessity for reading the entire document, including the Civil War Amendments which in blood and ink corrected that mistake.

I keep a copy of the Declaration and the Constitution (published by the Cato Institute) next to both of my computers. Walter Olson, who is a senior fellow at Cato, was feeling a little generous when he said of Wilder Publications: "Any idea that's a hundred years old will probably offend someone or other. but if there's anything that you ought to be able to take at a first gulp for yourself and then ask your parents about this or that strange thing, it should be the founding documents of American history."

That sensible remark tracks the remainder of the warning, since the collection is aimed largely at children and adolescents. "[Parents] might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and interpersonal relations have changed since this book was written before allowing them to read this classic work." Ignoring the fact that "this book" actually refers to a collection of several different historical documents, isn't it always a good idea for parents to know what their children are reading when the material was written by adults for adults?

Whether the warning was put into the collection out of cowardice, an abundance of caution, or a liberal view of "old documents" as not comporting with the times, it may be having the opposite effect from what was intended. Instead of protecting the publishers from lawsuits, or refusal of bookstores to carry it, or mass book-burnings, it has brought a torrent of criticism. The works have stirred no controversy, but the warnings have.

A few of the words used at Amazon.com to describe the warnings are "insulting," sickening" and "frankly, horrifying." These collections are printed by many different publishers, but since the word got out about the warnings, sales from this particular publisher have fallen through the floor. Some very angry parents have called for a boycott of the publisher, but it seems that such a thing is not necessary. The warning has offended so many people of so many different political and social persuasions that the publisher has essentially boycotted itself.

Coming up next: Wilder Publications issues warnings about its collection of words and stories from the Bible, paying particular attention to the controversial portions of the Sermon on the Mount.
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Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. . .

As we celebrate July 4th, let us remember what really happened on that special day in 1776. Our Founding Fathers not only declared independence from England, they boldly declared a new way for mankind with these simple words:

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.

And lest you think this hyperbole, consider that these rights were not self-evident at the time. They were, in fact, a radical departure from all that had come before.

Ancient Greece invented democracy, but it wasn’t the democracy you or I know. Their ideals were noble, but in practice, their democracy was little more than a club for elitists, ruled by tyrants. The Romans improved this system and expanded the club slightly, before they collapsed into Empire. For the next 1000 years, divine kings ruled the Earth. These kings claimed to speak for God, and their subjects were little more than property.

In 1215, the first cracks appeared in this model when British nobles imposed upon King John of England the Magna Carta, wherein he agreed that his will could be bound by the rule of law. Thus, parliamentary democracy was born, with certain rights being ensured to the King’s subjects.

Then came the Americans. On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, an extraordinary group of men, declared to the world, their intent to form the first government to be established by the consent of the people it would govern and which could exercise no power to which those people did not consent. In so doing, they gave the world its first free men since the dawn of man.

Indeed, consider what this Declaration proclaimed:

Every America would have an inalienable right to life. That is, a right to be free in body and in spirit, a right to be their own person and not the property of the sovereign.

Every American would have an inalienable right to liberty. At the time, the concept of liberty connoted the right to truly own property, a right then reserved to the crown, all others being mere tenants. Thus, Americans would have the right to be secure in their possessions, particularly their lands and homes, and would no longer be tenants of the sovereign, subject to his control.

Every American would have an inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. This is not a promise to provide comfort to the people, it is something much greater, it is a guarantee that every American would have the freedom to act in accordance with their own free will.

Thus, at a time when even the freest of men belonged to his sovereign, our Founding Fathers declared that in America, it would be different. In America, every citizen would have an unchallengeable right to be free in body and spirit, free in their possessions and free in the exercise of their will.

No other government on Earth has ever surrendered such freedoms -- not then and not now. Even the most modern democracies today choose the rights to grant their citizens. Only in America, are our rights absolute, and the government must seek our consent. And while this declaration has not always been perfectly enacted, we strive toward its promise and we cherish its ideal. That is what we celebrate on July 4th.

God bless America.

Enjoy your holiday, and remember the men who made you free. [+] Read More...

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