Yesterday, as has been my custom the past few years, I frolic along the Fourth of July parade in downtown Lexington, and after working up a good sweat in the mid day sun go to McCarthy's bar--the patio so I can smoke a cigar with a cold brew and read the papers. As usual the Lexington Herald-Leader ran the full Declaration of Independence, which I always enjoy reading. It's a little like the bible--I seem to see something new each time!
Well, being continuously confronted with the goverment hating sentiment of so many "conservatives" and by the not so G OP who has been running--I should say MIS-RUNNING our government this second sentence following the lead phrase ("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") from the Declaration grabbed me:
"That to secure these rights, GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTITUTED AMONG MEN, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." (emphasis mine).
YES, don't EVER let those who cry that government has no role helping improve society, be it with regulatory diligence, aid with health care, education, housing or food, yes--military protection, too--get by with their rants. IT IS WRITTEN in the Declaration and later adopted in our Constitution ("to provide for the general Welfare...") that whoever would live in THESE United States automatically must accept a government that lives in the spirit and flesh of helping facilitate "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
PS
The full Declaration of Independence can be found here--http/www.constitution.org/usdeclar.htm
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