Congratulations, America. We have reached our semiquincentennial. Across the country we celebrate with parades, picnics, fireworks and gatherings with family and friends. As we celebrate, I would also suggest setting aside time to read the document that set this nation in motion, and to reflect on the “host of worthies” who pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” to secure its promise.
Our republic was founded on the radical idea, “that all men are created equal.” No other nation in the history of mankind has begun with such a revolutionary claim about individual rights, liberty, and self-government.
The Declaration of Independence is a mere 1,320 words. It can be read in about 15 minutes, yet understanding its full meaning takes considerably longer. When I read it to clearly grasp the meaning of the words, I often consult resources from the Founding era to better understand the words as the Founders understood them. Modern tools, including artificial intelligence, can also help clarify older language, though we should always be mindful of the sources those tools rely on. Slowing down in this way deepens comprehension and helps bring the document’s meaning into sharper focus.
Why should Americans take the time to read the Declaration of Independence? Because it is still relevant today as when written. As citizens, we must understand the foundational ideas of this nation, along with the earlier works that shaped them, from the Greeks and Romans to the thinkers of the Enlightenment. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Marcus Tullius Cicero’s On the Commonwealth, and John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government all belong to the canon of political thought that informed the American Founding.
When citizens are unfamiliar with these key works of political philosophy, they are at a disadvantage in confronting modern political movements that reject or diminish the principles of the American Founding. It is not enough to merely label bad ideas, we must understand why they are flawed. We must be able to explain why liberty, private property, rule of law, and constitutional government offer a better path for human flourishing than ideologies that seek to centralize power and control economic life. To defend Western civilization, we must be prepared to expose unsound reasoning and failed policy, not with slogans, but with knowledge, persuasion, and enthusiasm. We must remain happy warriors.
Some post-modernist critics may roll their collective eyes and challenge the assumptions behind them. Yet their own version of reshaping humanity through political will deserves scrutiny even more. History teaches that human nature is not malleable. Those who have studied history, sought truth, and used reason understand even more that liberty is the responsible exercise of freedom; it is tied to human dignity, morality, and self-restraint. Political schemes built on envy, resentment, or the promise of a perfect society have repeatedly produced suffering and death rather than justice.
So, what comes next for America? How do we defend and continue the legacy of our Judeo-Christian Western inheritance? I offer a few suggestions. First, our reason and rhetoric must be stronger than the opposition’s. We should know both sides of the argument and resist the temptation to answer farce with farce. Instead, we should engage as the Founders did; with bigger and better ideas, evidence, moral clarity, and persuasive language. The arguments we need are already available in the writings of the Founders and the thinkers who influenced them. Our task is to use classical and timeless words and phrases and translate those ideas into modern language for conversations, essays, speeches, and our public life.
We must use those ideas of the American Founding in our stories that make the point about why freedom benefits our fellow citizens more than government coercion ever can. We should listen seriously to the concerns of young activists and distinguish between misguided ideas and the people who hold them. That distinction matters. There are powerful examples of intellectual conversions including the economist and author Thomas Sowell and David Horowitz, founder of the Horowitz Freedom Center. Both were once drawn to socialist and communist ideas in their youth but later rejected them and became ardent advocates for the American experiment. Their experiences remind us that persuasion is possible. We must keep the hope of the American idea in focus; without it, we risk losing common ground that makes self-government possible.
Now is the time to stop making excuses about being too busy or too uncertain to act. Each of us has talents and skills to make a positive difference in our town, state, and country. Drop the “not” from “cannot” and decide that you can. Show up. Speak up. Defend capitalism, liberty, freedom, family, and the future of America. In this battle of ideas, leadership must not be outsourced entirely to elected representatives. This responsibility belongs to you. If the American idea is to remain exceptional, it must be understood, defended, and lived by the people who are the custodians of our republic.
https://kimmonson.com/featured_articles/happy-250th-birthday-america-now-what/
