Kevin Wolf

Signing of the Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull, oil on canvas, 12′ x 18′

From the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776:

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.

Anybody wanna institute a new Government?

From Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, [the President] shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:— “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Anybody think Bush has defended the Constitution?

Amendment IV to the Constitution (one of the ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights):

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Anybody else sorry that “Warrants” are becoming as quaint a notion as all this random capitalization?

There may be no better time to stop and ask ourselves what sort of country - and, by extension, world - we want to live in.

One in which men of Wisdom proclaim for themselves, their People and all the World their Highest Ideals in words that ring with Truth?

Or a country in which torture and spying are parsed in legalese, the better to test limitations of law and decency; government by the small-minded takes place in secret and sets itself against the world and even its own people; in which government exists simply to profit and promulgate itself, while cloaked in the rhetoric of the very freedoms it schemes to deny?

I wish you all a sunny, healthy, fireworky and just plain fun Fourth of July holiday.

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