WHAT’S THE POINT?
Today is July Fourth. A day that in American culture has come to mean burned hamburgers, scantily clad women, Tom Cruise in a wheelchair and a day off from work.
Most people think that July Fourth is the day we achieved independence from the British. They are wrong.
July 4, 1776 is the date that the conditions in the colonies became so bad that a small group of men were able to convince a larger group of men to sign a declaration of rebellion. This date was the beginning of a long and bitterly-fought war. That war continues today. Not with the British mind you — the fight for independence and freedom continues.
The underlying reasons for the Declaration of Independence are shockingly similar to the situation that we still have today — just with a different despot.
The King of England was taking no action on legislative measures and ironically in light of the president’s descriptions of “activist judges” — the colonial judiciary was at a standstill and had become a puppet force of the King, doing his bidding, since they were dependent on the whims of the King for their income.
Trade with foreign nations was delayed or prevented. Business was slowing down to a level that parents could not provide for their children. The King created new offices and imposed taxes to such a degree that the people could not provide for themselves and the economy was stalled.
Immigration was prevented, thus effecting the labor pool and stunting growth that was needed. A growing economy needs a cheap labor force. It was true in 1776 and it’s true today. The problems have not changed, just the scale of them.
The King wanted to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power. This is why we have a civilian leadership of the military today. The founding fathers knew the dangers of letting the military run the country because they lived it.
This is how the military scandals of 1776 were described:“He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.” Sounds a lot like us in Iraq.
The Declaration of Independence is the high water mark in statements that define a people. It is eloquent and clear, elegant and insightful. It is short and simple.
It gets right to the point: “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...”
It is for these reasons that we need to fight. It is for these ideals that we need to defend the weakest amongst us.
The phrase “unalienable rights” means that there are certain things that you can’t give up and that can’t be taken from you. Those rights are partially listed in the Bill of Rights, such as Free Speech, Freedom of Religion, and a right to not be a witness against yourself.
In America today we have the same battles with our government that we did 200 years ago. Some people want a judiciary that will do the president’s bidding. They call judges who are independent and make decisions that are disagreeable to the some perceived religious teachings “activist judges” and think they should be removed from the bench. Others want very activist judges, so long as they enforce the Bible and ignore the Constitution.
We no longer house armies in our homes, but we pay for them nonetheless. They used to be mercenaries hired by the King to do his dirty work, now they are military contractors.
When opening a business, we have a maze of new departments, bureaus and agencies to coordinate — all with their “user fees.” This is nothing new, King George had them in 1776; President George W. Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger have them in 2006. The do nothing legislature of 1776 has become the lobbyist playground of 2006.
Things are better though. We have a stable government, we have instituted major reforms and so long as the Supreme Court remains conservative we will likely still have some freedoms left by the time the current King George — the one living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — leaves office.
But the battle continues. We still need voices in the wilderness to lead us through to the meadow. We still need the rebels and the free thinkers.
It is hard to find them these days. But they are there. It’s harder to get them elected, but we can if we want to fight hard enough.
The Declaration of Independence is a manifesto of why we should keep a watchful eye on the government. Two hundred-thirty years and we have many of the same problems with this King as with the other one.
July Fourth is Independence day — independence from the tyranny of acquiescing. We are not good at giving up and blindly following orders. We never have been. It is our greatest strength. Our rebelliousness is what makes us Americans. (David Pisarra is a business development lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He or (310) 664- 9969.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2006. Read the original PDF.