The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

In CONGRESS, 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 [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Read more about the declaration of Independence here.

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Amen.

And then they list their grievances against the King of England and they sign it and send it to him which was terribly, terribly brave.

Some people will inevitably claim that the framers of the Declaration of Independence did not have me in mind when they wrote it; that they only meant the ruling rich white guys of the day not the black people they viewed as slaves or women or...well, anyone who wasn't a already a ruling rich white guy.

However, sometimes, people stumble across a truth so definitive that people, even folks who may or may not have been viewed by them as human, let alone sentient people with destinies of their own, can't help but l take you at your word.

The Declaration of Independence is a challenge - to anyone who would dare to dream of freedom; and a caution that to accept that the road of securing liberty, not only for ourselves, but also others may end in bloodshed and that the blood shed may be your own.

However the idea that all men should be able to choose the road for themselves, that it should not be dictated by king, nor country - was a radical idea in it's day and it still is now - for conservatism still dictates that many must be left out of freedom's bounty for the needs of a few.

Whether they envisioned someone like me down the line or not (and being foolishly wise men who realized the world would change beyond their wildest imaginations, I think they did) The Declaration of Indpendence is the stuff that dreams are made of.

For the lovers, the dreamers and me.