When asked by a reporter when his birthday was, that it might be celebrated as a national holiday, Thomas Jefferson famously replied that, "The only date you need to remember is July Fourth; the birth date of your country."
And so, it is with that in mind, that I will be celebrating this July Fourth, as I always do, trying to think not of our nation's current problems, but of the promises held forth in our founding.
And yes, our founding was full of promise. The radical idea that citizens would be free to think for themselves and then openly speak their mind, even if it meant criticizing their new government, would have been enough of a reason to celebrate annually.
And then, just a few rules later, to have the guts to say that, although free to speak, citizens also had the right to remain silent, should they so choose, shows just how bold and sure of their ideas the founders were.
Add to that the concept that government couldn't tell religious authorities what to do, and religious authorities couldn't tell the government what to do, and they were really changing the world.
Top it all off with things like the right to a jury trial, no cruel or unusual punishment, no un-warranted searches, nor to be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, and it's no wonder that the U.S. constitution is still the model that each new nation looks to when breaking from tyranny and domination.
These are important ideals to remember, and rights to hold on to, especially in these times when we are under constant alert in a war against ... what is it that we're fighting against again?
Not a nation or individual leader that can be clearly defeated, not even against an ideology that can be discredited, but against a method of fighting: Terrorism. How do you defeat a type of warfare?
The simple answer is, "You can't." Terror, and the use of terror as weapon, has always existed and always will. And so we will always remain on alert (the official alert levels go up and down, but they have not gone away since being instated), and bit by bit, we accept small chips in the promise of our constitution.
A few searches of library records to make sure your neighbor hasn't checked out a book on how to make a bomb? No problem if it makes us safer. Locking up a few hundred people for years on end without any charges or trials? No problem if they were asking for it. An increase in hate crimes because the victims happened to share the same faith as the enemy? These things are the price we have to pay to rid the world of evil.
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