Sunday Musings – July 3, 2022
Independence Day
The preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence.
“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.”
Even the most uneducated of citizens of these United States know that all men in this document excluded and may still or again exclude:
o Slaves
o Females
o Non landowners
o Nonwhites
o Felons with some notable exceptions. (In two states and the District of Columbia felons never lose their right to vote even while incarcerated. In 21 states felons get the right to vote back when released. In 16 states felons may after satisfying certain requirements get their rights back. In 11 states only the state legislators can individually restore the right to vote to felons.)
o in certain cases, the mentally ill.
o In some states those with restricted access to identification, ability to get to polling stations, and those deliberately restricted from access to voting via redistricting.
o Those below a certain age.
o Pregnant woman who are again imprisoned by their inability to not-allow a fetus to become a person even if the pregnancy is a result of rape by a stranger or an abusive partner.
o Those - all of us - who need to be protected from the negative effects of climate change.
o Increasingly once again those who identify as transgender or as non-binary.
o Those who identify as gay, lesbian and bisexual. We no longer in this country send such people to prison but there are those who continue to want to reinstate laws which outlaw sexual/romantic behavior between same sex individuals.
o Previously anyone who marries someone other than a someone identified as the same race. Some would reinstitute these laws.
o Those who want to be inclusive when teaching history, mental health as it relates to sexual orientations and certain other subjects.
o Physicians who want to consistently honor their Hippocratic oath.
All men did include and may now include:
o Slave owners
o white male landowners
o Those ‘creative’ folks who can use laws and well-paid attorneys in various states to “creatively” evade responsibility for not honoring business contracts.
o Those who take advantage of situations to economically exclude others from housings, cultural events or other necessities,
o Those who take advantage of desperation of others to gouge them financially.
o often private health insurers who decide who is included or excluded by condition and financial status.
o pharmaceutical companies who blame outrageous prices on research or other factors when it is patently a lie.
o Companies who pay their senior staff millions of dollars while opposing fair wages for employees and often restrict access to products needed to operate a small business,
I am sure many readers can add to this list. The point is that despite past progress we have continued to exclude many in their United States from “all men” and now a majority in the Supreme Court, many religious leaders and a host of politicians are determined to, once again, add to those who are excluded.
This Independence Day we must get honest about who is included and who is excluded from our declaration of independence.
Ever present in my mind are the words of Martian Niemoeller `
arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau concentration camp in 1938 - freed by Allies seven years later. He said:
“In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jew, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
When we are invited to celebrate Independence Day in these United States this July 4th let us recommit to making “all men” in the Declaration of Independence be truly inclusive of all men, women, and children in these United States. Let us imprint the final words of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet “The New Colossus” on our hearts and in all public places in every village, town, and state:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,”
Written July 3, 2022
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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