Our national wealth is measured in our Liberty:

Friday – July 2, 2010

Our national wealth is measured in our Liberty:

This July 4th, take some time out and read the Declaration of Independence. It is a wonderful piece of history and the words are arranged in such a way that makes anyone who reads it understand its meaning and its intent.

(http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm)

It starts out: “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separate.”

The men that signed the document did so with unity of cause and unity of spirit. The declaration ends with: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

The 56 men that signed the document were men of honor and they were the creators of the freedom and Liberty that we enjoy today. July 4th is not just another summer holiday it is a time to reflect on the gift that was given to us by those that knew tyranny and oppression was not meant for man or women.

The 56 signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
The declaration was also the list of grievances that were created, so that King George III would have a clear picture of why the Colonies were separating from Great Britain. When the declaration was delivered, along with the note by John Hancock, it set in motion a rebellion by the first citizens of the nation.

I often wonder if these citizens did not look out for their future posterity what would have happened. I often wonder if we don’t look out for our liberty in the way the early founders did, what will happen to the future posterity?

I believe that we are at a crossroad in the liberty that was meant by the founders and the new form of liberty that is now being played out in front of us. Liberty and wealth go hand in hand. I am not talking about wealth in terms of your bank account. I am talking about the wealth of honor and the wealth of devotion to ideals and the Divine Providence that the early signers were talking about.

We cannot compare the list of the signers of the declaration to any leader that holds office today. We should be electing leaders to serve the people and who are devoted to liberty and freedom instead of wanting to change the formula that gives us liberty and freedom.

The declaration went on to say:

“In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

Liberty is not passed through any gene; it is handed down from one generation to another. Freedom is not free, it has to be fought for and it is something we must be always vigilant over.

Wealth of spirit will promote the wealth of our posterity. Our wealth of liberty is what is passed on down to the heirs of freedom. Every act that our current leaders have committed has produced injury to the most humble of citizens. It has only been answered by repeated injury to their spirit and to their wealth. The question we have to ask today: is our leader fit to serve and be ruler of free people?

One of the signers - John Adams, our second President, said of the Declaration: ”It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. …I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph in that days transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.”

It took the greatness of these men to stand against the tyranny of a King and the power of his nation. In the end, liberty and freedom triumphed. In our time, it will also take brave men and women to stand against the assaults we are witnessing today. It is the wealth of spirit that has been passed down to us, so that we can pass it on again just like our forefathers did on the first July 4th celebration.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: in 123 days a new declaration will be voted on. It will be the first step in renewing the liberty and freedom that was passed down and possibly forgotten about or taken for granted by some but renewed by others in the voting booth! Wealth and liberty is what we vote for.