Been thinkin’ ‘bout the reason for this holiday, this celebration: the Declaration of Independence.

It’s a short document, amazing considering its consequence. Its second paragraph is without a doubt the most elegant statement of human rights ever penned.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That means everything in that paragraph ought to be obvious to everybody.

That all men are created equal: Now, in those days, they meant what they wrote – “all men” – are created equal. ‘Course, nowadays we know it’s right to include all women, too, and all people, no matter the color of skin or walk of faith or sexual identity or anything else: all people. It just took us a while and, unfortunately, several wars – including one big one against ourselves – to realize that particular self-evident truth. Some folks still can’t understand it.

That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights: That word, “inalienable,” means that endowed rights can’t be changed or altered by anybody, for any reason. We forget that sometimes.

That among these (rights) are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: That passage right there is the cornerstone of the United States of America. It can be a controversial passage today, because some folks try to twist it to their own political purposes. But is seems clear to me: all folks, all people have an automatic, God-given right to live their lives free and happy. It is the simplest, yet most compelling argument ever given for dignity and human rights.

It does not, however, give us a “right” to pursue our own “happiness” on the backs of others; exploiting them for our own selfish purposes. “Pursuit of happiness” means, just as the ancient Hebrew prophet Micah suggested, we should all have an even chance at sitting contentedly, peacefully under our own fig tree.

It is an idea borne of the Enlightenment, of Locke and Descartes; the notion of the supremacy of the individual above all else. “I think, therefore I am.” “Don’t Tread on Me.”

It is a uniquely Western thought, taken to its limits by the American experiment. There is, alternatively, the African concept, “Ubuntu,” which suggests supremacy is not found in the individual but, rather, in the community.

Perhaps we could better practice that concept through this next part: That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Anarchy can’t secure rights. Governments must do that. It is an idea as old as Plato. Beware of so-called leaders who belittle a government’s authority to protect the rights of the otherwise unprotected.

The American experiment added the concept, which suggested the only legitimate government is the one that gets its power from the people it governs. That was a radical idea back in 1776, given voice by the likes of Thomas Paine, debating Edmund Burke. Given the present state of government in the U.S. of A., it’s almost as radical today – at least to many of the men and women now in Washington.

That when any 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.

If we don’t like the government, we can change it – so long as we continue to hold those to those basic, self-evident truths and irrevocable rights.

That’s it, isn’t it? We have a God-given right to revolt if our government is interfering with our rights … to happiness … to privacy … to health?

It’s hard sometimes for our elected to remember they are in office because we sent them. We may not have contributed thousands of dollars to their campaigns, but we voted for them. They work for us. The small minority who gave them thousands of dollars should not control them. They work for us: the people.

It is hard being an American democrat, sometimes. We tend to get set in our ways; protective of the power that comes with elective office and lazy when it comes to standing up for our rights.

It is we, the people who have the inalienable rights. Politicians govern only with our consent.

Steve Hart is a sailor, angler, explorer, raconteur, amateur citrus-grower and semi-professional theologian who masqueraded as a Florida journalist and pundit for the last 25 years. A fifth-generation Floridian, Hart comes from solid cracker stock but revels in the changing face of 21st century Florida and its patchwork quilt of people, their cultures, traditions, shades and ideas. His book, “Tales from Down Yonder, Florida,” is available in local bookstores and on the Web at downyonderflorida.com.

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