Happy 230th, USA!!

Happy birthday America! I could do no better, on this important day, than to quote Thomas Jefferson:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

...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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government...

...We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved...

Or, to hear and see the entire Declaration read aloud by some familiar actors (it's quite moving, despite the fact that some of the actors doing the reading are, in truth, collectivists who, as such, could not possibly believe in individual rights as described in the Declaration):

Declaration of Independence Performance DOWNLOAD VIDEO (QUICKTIME): 56k 100k 250k DOWNLOAD VIDEO (WINDOWS MEDIA):56k 100k 250k DOWNLOAD VIDEO (REAL MEDIA): 56k 100k 250k "Produced by Norman Lear and Rob Reiner, and hosted by Morgan Freeman, this dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence features actors Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas, Kevin Spacey, Whoopi Goldberg, Ed Norton, Benicio Del Toro, Renee Zellweger, and Winona Ryder."