Much today has been said about the unwillingness of many to embrace the idea of a king. “No Kings Day” marches and rallies have seen literally millions of people exercising their free speech rights to protest what many believe is the authoritarian government of the Trump presidency. The forebearers of our country fought a long and difficult war to free themselves from the rule of King George III, and few want to return to those days. Like the Revolutionaries of 250 years ago, most Americans do not want to live in a country ruled by a king.
In light of this, I was watching a series about the Revolutionary War on PBS and was struck by the power of the Declaration of Independence. A radical document for any time in history, it is an amazingly brave statement declaring the separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain. It is a long document, so rather than making one video of my reading, I made three: a video on the preamble, a video on the reasons for separation, and a video on the conclusion. The links to these videos are below. I was humbled by their words, and increasingly thankful for the actions of those brave revolutionaries who established a new country predicated upon unalienable rights and the proposition that all people are created equal, the United States of America. Hear, then, the words of the Declaration: