America Growing Up

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.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, with these words, we the people declared to the world that we were no longer a part of England and that we were giving birth to a grand new experiment. From that day forward those thirteen colonies set our country on a path forward that has never been able to be duplicated by any other country and set July 4th as the birthdate of The United States of America.

It has been a remarkable run for us filled with highs and lows and everything in between. As I watched, and read, news coverage of the anniversary we will celebrate this weekend along with developments in legal circles, world events, and domestic drama, I decided that it was my duty to try to put our country in perspective in a way we can all relate.

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.

Surprisingly, this will not be a political story. There will be plenty of time to get into all that later this summer before our midterm elections. No, this is a story of a country growing up, with all the drama and missteps that can be related to our own lives.

Like ourselves, our country has gone through many changes in its first two hundred and fifty years. Raise your hand if you are a different person today then you were when you were five, or fifteen, or thirty. Yeah, me too.

Have we made some mistakes as a country along the way so far, hell yes we have, just like we all have in our personal lives. Look, our early history was not a pretty one. Forming a country based on a stated belief that all men are created equal and then allowing slavery is pretty ballsy to say the least. But like our toddler selves, we got through all that, not unlike our lives where for many of us it took until after college to figure out how to be a better human.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

After fending off repeated attempts to retake our country, we became the most demanded protector of people around the world. Oppressed people everywhere called upon us to come and help them and we answered that call every single time, whether we should have or not. It gave us a unique power over the world and we used it judiciously and safely.

We showed some growth as a country in the 1960's and 1970's by rising up and telling our leaders that we will no longer support their horrible war and that we were done looking away while they were keeping our minority population in shackles by being treated as second class citizens. Change came and it was good, and we felt a sense of accomplishment as a nation that we stood up to the racism and tyranny that was going on in a vast swath of the country.

Our mission to the moon was celebrated around the world for the huge effort it was to actually land a man on the moon and allow him to walk on it. We were rightly proud of having been, still to this day, the only country that has been able to do that. That is what our founders saw as the capabilities of this Republic.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

For the next fifty years or so we treaded water just like we did in our own lives. Some good things, some bad things, some awful things, but nothing that we weren't seeing every day as we got up, went to work, and raised a family. It is called growing up and our country is doing the same thing.

For many, right now, things seem overwhelmingly horrible, and in some ways it might be. However the reality is that this too is part of life. Imagine it as you going through some minor health issues as you reach midlife. It is annoying, maybe even painful at times, but it isn't going to kill you, and eventually you will get through it and move on. Same for our country.

We've survived worse before and trust me, we will survive all this too. Nobody in the world expected us to last this long under the unique system our founders dreamed up. If they were being honest, they would tell us that even they didn't think this would last more than a few years. We have had serious differences in the past, way worse than what we have now, and we pulled ourselves together and kept making it all work. We will do it again.

Whether you are a senior or a teenager you can't lose hope in our system, and in our strength as a united people, that we have the best system ever developed in the history of the planet. It might occasionally need some tweaking and repairs, but it is better than anything else around. While some might remark snidely about our missteps and throw shade on us, they all begrudge our ability to work through our issues and come out stronger on the other side.

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; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Happy Birthday America.