Happy Independance Day

I spent most of the 4th of July working. Then again, so did the Founding Fathers on the original 4th of July, so maybe that's a good thing... although their words of wisdom are far more important and uplifting than anything I will ever pen.

Granted, for most of us Independence Day is a day, to paraphrase The Simpsons, where we get to celebrate the independence of our nation by blowing up a small part of it. And that's a good thing. But it would also be useful to remember those folks fighting to preserve that our freedom (and that of others) -- this letter printed by Powerline mentions how out troops in Iraq celebrated the 4th.

It's also worth reading the Declaration of Independence on occasions like this, and on other days as well. The gents who signed that document risked their considerable fortunes and their lives to do so -- one may question their motives, but their courage remains something to be admired. But even more admirable are the words penned by a Virginian, assisted by men from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. They make sense even today...

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.

Happy Independence Day. And Happy Birthday, America.