Independence From Tyranny -- Not Absolute

"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." --The Declaration of Independence.



The American Colonists were not seeking absolute independence. The very notion of complete divorcement from any standard, any legacy, anyone or anything, is sheer nonsense.



Our identity, whether political, moral, or even spiritual, must depend on something else outside of ourselves. If we do not adhere to truth or to tradition, we will fall in line with fads and fashions which do not withstand the test of time.



Mankind is reeling today, from financial failures to systemic corruption brought to the forefront because of the misapplied trust in frail and easily divested men and women who claim to offer much, yet who can only give to us what we have given them, and we having nothing to offer beyond the circumstances and certainties before us, are still found greatly wanting.



Independence from tyranny: that was the calling, the theme of the Declaration of Independence:



"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved."



Thomas Jefferson, and by extension the Continental Congress and the Framers of the Constitution, did not reject authority as such and claim absolute freedom, which in effect becomes the worst tyranny. What they embraced was the Source, the Highest Authority, one which would define and infuse them by origin with the rights which they received, and by equanimity are applied and evident for all, in every person, regardless of race, ethnicity, or social standing.



They appealed to common law, seeking reconciliation with British brethren, identifying themselves as worthy of the same dignity and respect accorded to all Englishmen. When they perceived after repeated injuries and usurpations that the Crown of England and her Parliament refused to recognize that the colonists possessed the same rights, the obliged themselves to dissolve the political bands and join the community of nations, appealing to a Higher Authority: Nature and Nature's God.



The modern motif has been to disabuse ourselves of any authority, as if the Declaration of Independence was a total break with everything: tradition, truth, testings, and times. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Independence from tyranny is the calling and the carried message which we must strive to divine for ourselves all the more. Never should we settle with the vain notion that we are called to make our own rules, create our own path and dispense with the world of verities and examples which we cannot escape, but merely position and manipulate with agreement of resistance.