Happy Birthday America !

The document pictured above is the Declaration of Independence. It is one of the two most revered and politically sacred documents in the United States. While the Constitution established our political system and is the basis for our laws, the Declaration of Independence justifies the very existence of our country -- the United States of America.

The document was ratified on July 4, 1776. Even today, we regard that date to be the birth of our country, and we celebrate that birth with a holiday on each July 4th. It is our most important political holiday, and probably always will be.

In addition to justifying the separation from Britain and establishment of our independent country, the founding fathers included some rather famous words in the document. These words established the American dream of freedom. They are:

"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 ."

Now, most of the founding fathers didn't really mean "everyone" was created equal and deserved these inalienable rights. They thought it went without saying that these rights were reserved for White Male Property-Owners. They had no intention of giving rights to women, Native Americans, African slaves, etc.

But regardless of what they intended, they wrote and agreed to those words. And following generations of Americans have taken those words to heart and tried to make them a reality. After more than 230 years, we are much closer to making "all" truly mean every single American citizen.

We are not there yet, but if we keep the faith and keep fighting for it, we will be someday. We will make real the dream that our forefathers created. In honor of that, I say with pride:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA !