{"id":1298,"date":"2026-06-09T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=1298"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:38:11","slug":"opinion-why-america-is-worth-celebrating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=1298","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Why America is worth celebrating"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>Editors note: <\/b><i>This is the fourth in a series of six pieces exploring the ideas behind America\u2019s founding. Each piece will accompany one of five master classes on the Declaration of Independence from Utah Valley University\u2019s Center for Constitutional Studies. The classes are free and open to the public. Read more about and access the classes <\/i><i>here<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=1296\">Top 10 matches to watch in World Cup pool play<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica isn\u2019t worth celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis country was created by white men \u2014 for white men. We need a new declaration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These arguments are common on social media, in classrooms and on podcasts. And they are all based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Declaration of Independence and the cause of America. <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with Line 3 of the engrossed (handwritten) Declaration: \u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.\u201d <\/p>\n<div>\n<h5><strong>More from the Center for Constitutional Studies&#8217; masterclass series:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Opinion: A look at the document that jump-started our nation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Opinion: The room where it was written<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Opinion: The Declaration of Independence \u2014 choosing natural rights and human equality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Those words are among the most important to ever grace a piece of paper. They aren\u2019t merely logic to justify a revolution. In fact, the declaration didn\u2019t really need this grand philosophical statement. Those few lines were inserted to define the purpose for a country unlike any ever created. Let\u2019s unpack what that sentence means.<\/p>\n<p>First: \u201cWe hold these truths\u201d suggests that, unlike Indiana Jones, we aren\u2019t just \u201cmaking this up as [we] go\u201d \u2014 a new theory of government \u2014 because it sounds good. These things are true whether societies recognize them or not.<\/p>\n<p>Second: \u201cTo be self-evident\u201d means two things at once. These truths are our foundational axioms. In order to get to the good stuff, we all need to agree that these things are indisputable. More importantly, these truths are so obvious that you don\u2019t need a Ph.D. to understand them. They are accessible to every human being.<\/p>\n<p>Third: \u201cAll men.\u201d Did the Declaration mean just \u201cwhite men\u201d or just \u201cmen\u201d? No! It included all human beings. But wait, didn\u2019t Jefferson own slaves? Yes, but the truths of the declaration don\u2019t depend on the moral perfection of one Thomas Jefferson. Indeed, Lincoln himself challenged Stephen Douglas in their 1858 debates to produce a single artifact from the revolution that proved the Founders meant only \u201cwhite men.\u201d No such evidence existed then or since.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=1294\">Why Ben McAdams says Democrats need to be \u2018the party of solutions\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fourth: \u201cAre created equal.\u201d This is a stunning departure from the ancient Greek understanding of natural inequality. It is the product of Judeo-Christian teaching, secularized through the Enlightenment. But what do we mean by \u201cequal\u201d? Surely, it is not that all are equally intelligent, athletic or capable of leadership. Instead, it is that all humans have equal moral dignity and are endowed with rights. With the exception of parents who guide their children to maturity, no human has the right to rule over another without their consent. <\/p>\n<p>Finally, \u201cEndowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.\u201d Each human being has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The \u201cpursuit of happiness\u201d is not the fever dream of a 19-year-old college libertarian. It is best understood as the pursuit of moral excellence. Every human has the right to fulfill their nature and become excellent. Humans have a right to liberty because liberty is the prerequisite for becoming morally excellent \u2014 to becoming happy.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Again and again, the nation has been confronted by the doctrine proclaimed in 1776 and compelled to reform, to repent and to widen that circle of liberty.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>What a doctrine! We became a people on the sure foundation of this civic religion. It is our purpose statement, our destination, our goal. Eleven years after the Declaration, we created the U.S. Constitution as a superior vehicle to our previous form of government to get us on our way. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s been an easy journey. Lincoln, our greatest expositor of the Declaration, understood this well:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them \u2026 They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society \u2026 constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated \u2026 and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>America\u2019s history is one of striving toward the declaration\u2019s self-evident truths. From abolition to women\u2019s suffrage to the civil-rights movement, each generation has been called back to that promise. Again and again, the nation has been confronted by the doctrine proclaimed in 1776 and compelled to reform, to repent and to widen that circle of liberty.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, Americais worth celebrating so long as we remain a Declaration of Independence people.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=1292\">Making sense of the Pentagon\u2019s religious code controversy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America is worth celebrating so long as we remain a Declaration of Independence people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Opinion: Why America is worth celebrating - 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