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Someone else’s thoughts, don’t think I can do better:

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2 ... ay-2-4.php

All this is not the result of accident. It has a philosophical cause. Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of “Liberty to all” — the principle that clears the path for all — gives hope to all — and, by consequence, enterprize, and industry to all.

The expression of that principle, in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy, and fortunate. Without this, as well as with it, we could have declared our independence of Great Britain; but without it, we could not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent prosperity. No oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters.

The assertion of that principle, at that time, was the word, “fitly spoken” which has proved an “apple of gold” to us. The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it. The picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; but to adorn, and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple — not the apple for the picture.

So let us act, that neither picture, or apple shall ever be blurred, or bruised or broken.

That we may so act, we must study, and understand the points of danger.

Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Roy P. Basler, volume 4 (Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NJ, 1953), 168-169.

https://reason.com/blog/2018/07/03/face ... es-declara

America's founding document might be too politically incorrect for Facebook, which flagged and removed a post consisting almost entirely of text from the Declaration of Independence. The excerpt, posted by a small community newspaper in Texas, apparently violated the social media site's policies against hate speech.

Freedom of Speech. Some restrictions apply.

I think of the Founding Fathers of this great nation.
They risked their lives, their families, their fortunes, everything, to give us what we have today ( what’s left of it).

To all my antigun friends, I hope you are enjoying the 4th of July.
The gun violence day that made this country great!

Very Moving!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uoABty_zE00

AndyC wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:16 pm Something I found today:

I have fought in every battle of every war for more than 200 years. I am loved, I am revered, I am respected, I am feared, I am confident and I am proud. I’ve been burned, torn and trampled on the streets of countries I have helped set free but it does not hurt me for I am invincible. I bow down before no man. My name is Old Glory.

oljames3 wrote: Tue Jul 03, 2018 4:13 pm Amen. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Especially the enemy within who pass, enforce, or uphold laws that violate the actual words of the Constitution.

Thanks for the vid, OneGun! That was very nice.