By DAVID PISARRA is a family law lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments at dpisar-or (310) 664-9969.
TOMORROW IS JULY 4, A DAY SET ASIDE to remind us of the foundations of from whence we came. There will be a parade in Santa Monica, I’ll be in it, along with many other people. We’ll be celebrating the birth of our nation and be reminded of the history of the war for independence from the British.
Most people think that July 4 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, and it is the date that we, as a nation, became a nation of rebels.
The underlying reasons for the Declaration of Independence are shockingly similar to the situation that we still have today.
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. This lack of action by the judiciary was a major contributing cause to the frustrations the colonists felt.
Trade with foreign nations was delayed or prevented. 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. A growing bureaucracy and lack of trade was choking off the entrepreneurs; sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Immigration was prevented, thus negatively affecting 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 king wanted to render the military independent of, and superior to the Civil Power. Which is why we have a civilian leadership of the military today.
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 and Afghanistan.
We are not forced to house armies in our homes, but we pay for them just the same. Mercenaries were hired by the king to do his dirty work, today they are called military contractors.
The Declaration of Independence is the high water mark in defining statements. 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 remember from where we came. It is for these ideals that we need to defend the weak-est amongst us.
The phrase “unalienable Rights” means that there are certain things that you cannot give up, and that cannot 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.
We have a stable government today, and we institute reforms as needed, 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 at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — 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. Americans are known as many things, but lazy and afraid of hard work are not two of them.
In the coming days we will need to right the wrongs of the last few years. It is not going to be easy, we need to bring in some rebels, some free thinkers and some fighters for freedom.
July 4 is Independence day — independence from the tyranny of following. Americans know how to take control of their own destiny. It is our greatest strength. And we should not forget it.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 3, 2007. Read the original PDF.