Editorial: Freedom’s ring

Tuesday, July 4, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

The Declaration of Independence, signed 230 years ago today, established the United States of America as a nation that would forever be free from the constraints and tyranny of a king.

Our nation's document of liberation also laid down a fundamental principle, indeed revolutionary at the time, that boldly declared 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."

Of course, after the War of Independence was won and a government formed, these stirring ideals hadn't fully materialized. Slavery was permitted - it took the Civil War nearly a century later to eradicate this stain on our nation's history - and women were not guaranteed the right to vote until a constitutional amendment passed more than a century after the Declaration of Independence. Even then, these newfound protections were more on paper than in deed. It took decades, and hard-fought civil rights movements later, to bring us closer to true equality.

It also should be noted that this nation, where the first representatives sought to protect citizens' rights to assemble freely and to publicly discuss all matters of importance, still wrestles with protecting that right in all of its forms.

Some citizens today are bewitched by politicians, including supporters of the Bush administration, who wrap themselves in this nation's colors and claim that those who question their government are unpatriotic and unfit to call themselves American. This should serve as a reminder to all citizens that the foundation of our liberty and our democracy is the freedom - and the responsibility - to question our government.

We have plenty of reasons to unite and rejoice today. We enjoy bountiful, incomparable freedoms that other nations the world over envy. This remarkable experiment in freedom that began 230 years ago has produced a democracy that has given hope to people around the globe.

Part of the beauty of the American experience is that we are never satisfied, that we are constantly seeking to end oppression and suffering in the name of freedom. That is our calling, and we shall never relent.