246 years ago, this nation was founded by revolutionaries with a radical idea – that “all men are created equal“. Even more radical was the notion that this was a “self-evident” truth. It was nothing of the sort – it was not generally believed to be true, it was certainly not self-evident.
Yet those revolutionaries persisted. They took a stand in the face of an opponent many times larger and more powerful than their poor band of angry farmers, lawyers, merchants, and seamen.
All they had was a fierce determination among some patriots … and these thoughts, in this Declaration. But these thoughts were what they needed. This Declaration of Independence told the world
We hold these VALUES. But we face a VILLAIN – look at his villainy. Nevertheless, we have a VISION. And for that vision, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
In the face of great danger, they persisted.
And over the centuries, we have persisted as well. Those who hold numbers but not wealth, who do work but lack power, who know the truth but can’t be heard – these have persisted. And from their persistence comes what progress we have enjoyed.
We are now being tested, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. What progress we have won seems to be slipping away, not by the natural forces of time and change, but by the sinister forces of greed and wealth and power and deceit.
The revolution has not ended. It may never end. We must not fail this test. Like our predecessors whose radical ideas have gone before, we must persist. That is what this country was made to do 246 years ago. We were born in revolution, born of a radical notion of equality, freedom, justice, and opportunity. The test is never-ending. So we persist.
— bryan
July 4, 2022
