HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Today we celebrate the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the document that signaled our break from England, the document that offered great promise to the citizens of the United States.

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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Lofty words, indeed. Have the promises of the Founding Fathers been fulfilled? Some yes, but not all. We have a way to go. And there's a game of brinkmanship being played out in Congress which could lead to grave consequences for us, the citizens, and for the future of our country.

What did the Founding Fathers really say in the Declaration of Independence? In the Washington Post, E. J. Dionne explicates the Declaration for us and relates its meaning to the present situation today in the Congress.

Our nation confronts a challenge this Fourth of July that we face but rarely: We are at odds over the meaning of our history and why, to quote our Declaration of Independence, “governments are instituted.”

Only divisions this deep can explain why we are taking risks with our country’s future that we’re usually wise enough to avoid. Arguments over how much government should tax and spend are the very stuff of democracy’s give-and-take. Now, the debate is shadowed by worries that if a willful faction does not get what it wants, it might bring the nation to default.

This is, well, crazy. It makes sense only if politicians believe — or have convinced themselves — that they are fighting over matters of principle so profound that any means to defeat their opponents is defensible.

Read it all.

Have a happy Fourth of July, anyway!