"So, here's to the men who did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right...what they KNEW was right."
--Benjamin Franklin Gates (National Treasure)
Ron Paul reminds us that Independence Day is a celebration of opposition to tyranny--not a celebration of government.
As Jacob Hornberger observes, individuals labeled as patriots in 1776 were British citizens who took up arms against their own government. In the eyes of the standing government, these people were traitors. Legally, they could be hanged for treason.
These people were patriots because they took a stand against wrongdoing and tyranny. Their stated justification for doing so was that all people are endowed with certain inalienable rights granted to them by God or by nature. Government does not grant these rights; government exists at the pleasure of the people and can be thrown off if ineffective in helping individuals defend their rights.
These ideas are as radical today as they were then.
The patriotism of our founding ancestors was grounded in their revolutionary stand for liberty--the belief that people's rights come from God and nature, not from government.
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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.
~Declaration of Independence
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