Remember, The Government Has The Power We Give it

America’s original Independence Day 242 years ago was a grave matter – very unlike the celebration we hold today with fireworks, picnics and days at the beach

The men who wrote, and ratified the Declaration of Independence were taking a huge risk with their lives and the future of what they saw as their country. They also were making history.

The well reasoned arguments in the Declaration spoke to the rights of people to control their government and if necessary to break with it and create a new government more suitable to their needs. The Founders knew the British would consider their actions treason – but if it was treason, it was for a just and noble cause – one that would shake the world and inspire people for nearly two and a half centuries.

The most famous passage of the Declaration is just as salient today as it was in 1776:

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.

The Founding Fathers got it right when they said that Governments derive their rights from the people.
It would do us well to remember that today – especially in New Jersey, where we now suffer from a government that takes it as its right – the power to tax hard working people and business owners unmercifully for the sake of fulfilling an extreme agenda and funding causes that do little to serve the needs or wishes of the majority. The key question is do we have the resolve to fight back against a government that stands between us and our inalienable rights.

We should never forget that we the people, own the government, it does not own us. Whatever power the government has is the power we grant it. I hope you keep this perspective in mind as you enjoy our Independence Day holiday. If we want a more responsive and affordable government, it is up to us to fight for it.