Independence Day

I was thinking today, that it's a shame people call today the 4th of July.  The fourth day of the seventh month, doesn't really mean much.  Independence Day, however, means something.  This was the day two hundred and thirty six years ago that our forefathers planted the seeds that would grow into the United States of America.

The United States doesn't celebrate the adoption or the ratification of the Constitution.  We don't celebrate the day the Constitution went into effect.  Those are the dates which define when the US government was founded.

But the United States should not be confused with it's government.  The Declaration of Independence was not about founding a government, it was about stating and executing the natural right to abolish a government that did not serve the people, a government that was tyrannical and abusive.

 So today does not mark the birth of a nation.  Today marks the demonstration of an ideal.  The ideal that people are governed by their consent, to best "effect their Safety and Happiness."  The founders of the United States of America did not invent these ideals, the thoughts had long been espoused by philosophers.  What they did was execute those ideals and start a Revolution.

The fourth of July is not America's birthday, or the United States birthday.  Independence Day is the day when the thirteen united States of America declared that they would suffer tyranny no more.