Yes, happy birthday to my home country. Even though your true birthday is September 17, 1787, when the Constitution was finally ratified. As vital as the Declaration of Independence is, the Bill of Rights is a much greater political document, a listing of your rights as an American, rights granted all U.S. citizens not by the government but by the dint of their having been born on the planet earth.
In 1948, the United Nations produced another great document delineating the concept of universal human rights with the same basis- these are yours simply by your having been born.
Although some people mistakenly believe them to be so, these rights are not granted by any political body or government, nor are they privileges. They cannot legally be taken from you. You cannot even give them away.
It is on this base that my own political consciousness was founded and also my belief that any system, be it political, religious or merely social- or corruption of such- that is not derived from or does not uphold these concepts is invalid.
So on this Independence Day, celebrate your freedom.
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