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DOWN YONDER, FL. – Been thinkin’ ‘bout the reason for this holiday, this celebration: the Declaration of Independence.

It’s a short document, amazing considering its consequence. Its second paragraph is without a doubt the most elegant statement of human rights ever penned.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That means everything in that paragraph ought to be obvious to everyone.

That all men are created equal;

Now, in those days, they meant what they wrote – “all men” – are created equal and all white men, at that. ‘Course, nowadays we know it’s a matter of justice to include all women, too, and all people, no matter the color of skin or walk of faith or country of origin or sexual identity or anything else: all people. It just took us a while and way too much violence and bloodshed to realize that particular self-evident truth. Some folks still can’t understand it.

That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights;

That word, “inalienable,” means that endowed rights can’t be changed or altered by anybody, for any reason. We forget that sometimes.

That among these (rights) are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;

That passage right there is the cornerstone of these United States of America. It can be a controversial passage today because some folks try to twist it to their own political purposes. But is seems clear to me: ALL FOLKS, ALL PEOPLE have an automatic, God-given right to live their lives free and happy. It is the simplest, yet most compelling argument ever given for dignity and human rights.

It does not, however, give us a “right” to pursue our own “happiness” on the backs of others; exploiting them for our own selfish purposes. “Pursuit of happiness” means, just as the ancient Hebrew prophet Micah suggested, we should all have an even chance at sitting contentedly, peacefully under our own fig tree.

These concept expressed in the Declaration were ideas borne of the Enlightenment, of Locke and Descartes; the notion of the supremacy of the individual above all else. “I think, therefore I am.” “Don’t Tread on Me.”

It is a uniquely Western thought, taken to its limits by the American experiment. There is, alternatively, the African concept, “Ubuntu,” which suggests supremacy is not found in the individual but, rather, in the community. Perhaps we could better practice that concept through this next part:

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Anarchy can’t secure rights. Governments must do that. It is an idea as old as Plato. Beware of so-called leaders who belittle a government’s authority to protect the rights of the otherwise unprotected.

The American experiment added the concept which suggested the only legitimate government is the one that gets its power from the people it governs. That was a radical idea back in 1776, given voice by the likes of Thomas Paine debating Edmund Burke. Given the present state of government in the U.S. of A., it’s almost as radical today.

That when any 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.

If we don’t like the government, we can change it – so long as we continue to hold those to those basic, self-evident truths and irrevocable rights.

That’s it, isn’t it? We have a God-given right to revolt if our government is interfering with our rights…to happiness…to privacy…to health?

Does that mean government is bad? Most certainly not. Those who would tell you today government is an evil do not understand history nor our American experiment nor the inherent goodness of diverse people coming together to organize themselves into a nation state and a society. And, yes, to provide a system of health care for every citizen.

It’s hard, sometimes, for our elected leaders to remember they are in office because we sent them. We may not have contributed thousands – or millions – of dollars to their campaigns. But we voted for them. They work for us. The very small minority who gave them hundreds of thousands – or millions – of dollars should not control them. They work for us: the people.

It is hard being an American democrat, sometimes. We tend to get set in our ways; protective of the power that comes with elective office and lazy when it comes to standing up for our rights. It is far easier for politicians to listen to those who bankroll them than to the faint voices of the governed.

It is We the People who have the inalienable rights, not exclusively we the wealthy people or we the large corporations. It is We the People.

Elected officials govern only with our consent. It is to us and, therefore, to the preservation of the government and its integrity to which they owe their most important allegiance.