Independence

The Nation's Capital. Can you think of a better place to celebrate Independence Day?

I will be going to a small get-together late this afternoon, and then I will make my way down to The Mall to enjoy the Capitol Fourth celebration, which is being hosted this year by Tony Danza of "Who's the Boss?" fame. You can't help but feel patriotic when you are surrounded by the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the WWII Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the White House. Now imagine them at night, all lit up, with one of the best fireworks displays in the nation. The experience can't be beat.

As a reminder of what today's celebrations are all about (because CLEARLY we have forgotten), I have posted below some of the text of the Declaration of Independence that was drafted and signed in Philadelphia in 1776. You can read the full text at The National Archives.

Happy Fourth of July! Be safe.

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.