The importance of independence

This week, our country turns 250 years old. Big celebrations are underway, and rightly so. While still a relatively young nation, we are a relatively old democracy, but either way, reaching 250 years is an impressive milestone. 

But while we celebrate, I also want us to take time to reflect on what it is that we are commemorating, and what we can do to keep advancing the spirit of liberty our nation was founded on. 

The Fourth of July is known as Independence Day because it commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the document that stated the colonies should be their own independent states and no longer connected to Great Britain. It lists a variety of grievances that the colonies had with the rule of Great Britain at the time, and establishes the concept that government's authority should derive from the consent of the governed, and that it is the duty of the people to stand against government that becomes destructive to people's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

This document has become one of the most well-known in history, and one of the most foundational to our country's ideals, largely because of its basis in the concept of freedom. This ideology has been central to America's identity over the past 250 years.

Unfortunately, we haven't always lived up to our ideals. It's been well established that the declaration of freedom and equality for all did not actually apply to all when our nation was founded. Further struggles for freedom were required for groups like enslaved people and women. But through years of struggle, our nation has pushed forward to live up to the ideals we were founded on, and to apply them fully and truly. 

Freedom requires struggle, and we have to keep fighting to uphold it. Our nation is currently struggling through division, differing ideals, and arguments over what freedom actually looks like. When debating policies, people love to throw around talking points about what our founding fathers envisioned or what is or isn't constitutional. I think those discussions are important, but we need to be sure we can back up what we're saying, not just bend keywords to fit our perspectives.  

At the same time, I also think it's important to realize that it's not only possible but necessary for our nation to continue to grow from and even beyond the foundation that was established. We have done so over the past 250 years, and we've been better for it. And I believe our founding fathers would understand and approve of that, since nations evolving past unjust limitations is exactly what the Declaration of Independence was about in the first place. 

One of the most important concepts behind freedom is also the idea that we're not just upholding our own individual freedoms. Truly pursuing freedom means pursuing it for everyone. We are supposed to be a nation with "liberty and justice for all." 

As we reach 250 years, may we live up to the ideals we were founded on, grow from them to keep expanding them, and continue the struggle to make them reality.

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