July 4, 2014, was the 238th anniversary of the signing of one of the greatest written documents in history, the Declaration of Independence. This is the reason for celebrating this day every year.
The significance of the Declaration of Independence cannot be overemphasized because it proclaims that individuals do not need permission from their government to live their lives in the manner they choose. The unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness come from Nature and a Creator, and the only reason for the existence of any government, including the American government, is to protect and secure those individual rights for every individual.
The individuals who wrote this document understood that the greatest threat to human existence is any form of government, and that government, not people, must be restrained. George Washington summed it up perfectly when he stated, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” Like fire, government must be contained or else it will destroy the unalienable rights of the people it was created to protect. Cooking burgers in the middle of one’s living room has disastrous results. Hence, fire must be contained.
Governments today, including the American government, prove this point. The American government’s war on immigration, war on poverty, and war on drugs are obliterating the unalienable rights listed in the Declaration of Independence. These wars are also destroying the Bill of Rights. These government wars, contrary to the philosophy and spirit of the Declaration of Independence, are destroying countless people.
Government knows only one way to deal with anything and that is through the use of force. If government wants to restrict the travel of individuals, it must use force to detain them, either arresting them or killing them if they resist. If government wants to eliminate poverty, it must use force to take from some to give to others impoverishing more people in the process. To make sure people stop taking drugs, government must use force, again arresting people or killing them in the process.
Among the complaints listed in the Declaration of Independence by our ancestors to their English government were, “He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners” and “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” Our American government today does the same through the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS. After several appeals to King George, the people we call the founders of the American republic had no other choice but to state their intention of breaking with their government and to institute a new government that would protect the individual rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the eyes of their own government, they were considered traitors.
The future of this republic, this unique experiment called individual liberty, is in the hands of us all. If we do not get a hold of a basic understanding of the proper function of government and the need to constrain it, then tyranny will be our fate. That is the essential message of the Declaration of Independence.