One of the major tensions in this country is the wide gap between our ideals as espoused in documents such as the Declaration of Independence which we celebrate today and the reality of life in the United States. Certainly the signature line of the Declaration that most Americans can quote by heart – “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” – is at the very foundation of that tension. How can all men (I would opine that this does include women) be equal if the many laws of this country have been set up over the decades to produce unequal outcomes based on things such as race, gender, religious choice and financial status among them.

Here is a clip that has James Earl Jones reading an excerpt from a speech by Frederick Douglass. The address was on July 4th of 1852, less than a decade before the Civil War. While slavery specifically ended, inequalities have persisted throughout our history, often aided by laws and court decisions that are meant to keep our citizens unequal.

Have a safe Fourth. Celebrate and enjoy our country. But give a thought to what you can do to help the country achieve its ideals.