by Greg Allen

Americans still think alike on most things, even if our politicians don't.   
   
An Associated Press Survey in May of 2013 found that nearly all Americans, 9 out of 10, believe in God and are very patriotic.  They admire those who get rich by working hard and think society should ensure everyone has equal opportunity to succeed.  They're also interested in keeping up with national affairs and believe it's their duty to always vote.

History has defined us, and will continue to do so, for things usually repeat themselves.             
   
Barack Obama, in many ways, is doing the same type of things King George did - read the Declaration of Independence for enlightenment.  The Declaration consists of five parts:  The Introduction, The Preamble, The Indictment of George III, The Denunciation of the British people, and the Conclusion.
   
Would that make the President of the United States a "Closet Monarch" then?  As subjects, or citizens, that's for you to decide.
   
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation - the 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" has been called one of the best-known sentences in the English language,  containing the most potent and consequential words in American history.  The passage has come to represent a moral standard to which the United States can strive.
   
Our Declaration of Independence acknowledges a Creator as the source of the unalienable rights governments are formed to secure. This acknowledgement was the very foundation of the Constitution of the United States.
   
America's written Constitution was to protect and secure God-given individual rights to life, liberty, and property.  If we ever allow that foundation to be eroded and lose faith that these rights are a gift directly from God to each individual, then we lose the basis of the greatness of the miracle of America.
   
However, a minority of the population has Liberal tendencies and many just don't believe in a "Creator."  That would mean no one can be above them, and that would explain a great deal.  Government is a pinnacle for liberals; for the Constitution is a threat to their control.
   
Abraham Lincoln once said: "America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." 
   
The President of Congress, John Hancock, sent a copy of the Declaration of Independence to General George Washington and instructed him to have it proclaimed.  Washington had the Declaration read to his troops in New York City on July 9, 1776 with the British forces not far away.  Washington and Congress hoped the Declaration would inspire the soldiers.  After hearing the Declaration, crowds in many cities tore down and destroyed signs or statues representing royal authority.  A statue of King George in New York City was pulled down and the lead used to make musket balls.
   
Legal historians claim the Declaration isn't a philosophical tract about natural rights, but is instead a legal document.  In contrast, other historians argue that the Declaration is not a legal document at all, but a philosophical one.
   
"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."
   
King George used mercenaries against his American subjects, and Barack Obama has used bureaucrats against his malcontents.
   
In 1775, King George rejected Congress's second petition for independence and issued a Proclamation of Rebellion.
   
One could conceive the citizens of American will issue a Proclamation of Rebellion of their own, at the ballot box, in the not-so-distant future.

Greg Allen's column, Thinkin' Out Loud, is published bi-monthly. He's an author, nationally syndicated columnist and the founder of Builder of the Spirit in Jamestown, Indiana, a non-profit organization aiding the poor. He can be reached at 765-676-5014 or www.builderofthespirit.org.

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