As “America approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence”, the National Archives has launched “an ongoing exhibition series, Opening the Vault, to share some of the most historically valuable and iconic artifacts in American history.” [i] Without a doubt, the Declaration itself stands out as THE MOST historically valuable and iconic “artifact” in the history of the United States. Not so much because it marked their political independence, but because its Preamble is the “vault” where the Founders of the united States stored the “self-evident truths 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”.
Truths that were held
It’s easy to open the Archives’ Vault and exhibit iconic historical artifacts. It’s more difficult to “open” the Declaration and understand that the truths promulgated by its signatories aren’t opinions, ideas or propositions of the American peoples of the 18th century. These truths are …. truths and what’s more, they’re self-evident ones. They require neither proof nor argument or belief. They did not become true when 56 courageous signatories signed the Declaration. They existed well before, during and after the 4th of July 1776. They are true today and they will remain true forever. So will the self-evident truth “that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The journey
“Celebrating the Triumph of the American Spirit”, President Trump recently said “With a single sheet of parchment and 56 signatures, America began the greatest political journey in human history.” [ii] The point is that this journey wasn’t undertaken by “America”, but by “the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of [their] intentions.” Since nothing but the Truth is this Supreme Judge’s measure that determines that rectitude, their journey was undertaken for no other purpose than upholding and “living” the Truths they held so close to their hearts. They knew that the journey would end when these Truths would no longer held as truths, but as propositions.
Truth redefined as proposition
And so it happened that the journey that began on July 4, 1776 ended officially on November 19, 1863, when President Lincoln gave a speech in Gettysburg, a town where one of the most gruesome battles fought between the Northern and the Southern States had just taken place. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln equated his “civil war” with the War of Independence by stating: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Apart from the fact that the Founding Fathers did not bring forth a “new nation” but 13 independent States, Lincoln single-handedly substituted Truth for a “proposition” and so opened the way for his and following Governments to turn the unalienable Rights into entitlements that can be handed out and withdrawn at will to secure their unjust powers by selectively entitling and detitling the governed for no other purpose than staying in power.
The libido liberandi and the libido dominandi
Now that “America approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence”, the demolition of the Truths evocated in the Declaration is celebrated as the “Triumph of the American Spirit” by elements “whose character”, in the words used in the Declaration, “is marked by every act which may define a Tyrant”, one can be sure that what they actually mean by “American Spirit” isn’t the “libido liberandi” that inspires Independence, but the “libido dominandi“, the Will to Power, that drives “rulers of unfree people”. In spite of all the evidence that in the United States the latter libido has replaced the former, President Trump, who, by the way, is the majority shareholder of the Truth Social platform, nonsensically boasts that “The Story of America makes everyone Free”. He obviously doesn’t understand that no one needs the “Story of America” to become free since the Americans “of old” held the truth that Men are free because Freedom ‒ Liberty ‒ is a right endowed to all Men by their Creator.
“Freedom 250” …
… is a “Movement Celebrating Our Nation’s 250th Birthday.” It defines itself as “the national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday. At its heart, Freedom 250 is creating a movement of citizens, organizations, companies, and leaders from across the country to honor our Nation’s proud history, cherish our God-given freedoms, and build the Golden Age of Opportunity for the next 250 years.” [iii] The movement’s movers seem to wallow in the belief that along with the birth of their putative “nation” 250 years ago a sibling called Freedom was “co-born” in that “nation”. Perhaps they should open the Vault that was created 250 years ago and discover the Truth that God endowed Man not with “freedoms” but with unalienable Rights and that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. And, to be sure, God being the Creator of Man, He made the endowment when he created Man. And that was long ago …..
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[i] Freedom 250 / Celebrating the Triumph of the American Spirit; National Archives; https://www.archives.gov/freedom250
[ii] Freedom 250 / Celebrating the Triumph of the American Spirit; White House; https://www.whitehouse.gov/freedom250/
[iii] Freedom 250 / “A Movement Celebrating Our Nation’s 250th Birthday; https://freedom250.org/
