"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. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." DK quote from The Declaration
Sadly, none of this was true, then or now. This was very radical, gratuitous, and subversive stuff when written, not believed even for a moment by its very author whose life itself demonstrated this.
To look back now and call it a radical, cynical, and a deeply false and dangerous manifesto, is merely to tell the truth, and to try to recover what the reality of ideology and European power politics and religion were, its context, at the time it was written.
No comments:
Post a Comment