"When in the course of human events"

These seven simple words should hold a very special place in the heart of every American. In case you don't recognize them, these seven words are the start of "The Declaration of Independence", the document that served as the official start of the American war for independence, the document we'll be celebrating in two days with processed pork products, sunburns and lots of explosions. I won't bore everyone by quoting the entire document, instead I'll paraphrase it for you: "Dear King of England, you're an asshole. We're tired of your crap and are done with you. Mess with us, and we'll have to open a can of whup-ass on you. Sincerely, a bunch of rich guys"

 Don't get upset, I'm not mocking the founding fathers of this country, or the Declaration of Independence. I have nothing but respect for the document and for the 56 men brave enough to sign their names to it. With their signature, each man was committing everything he had, including his life, to throwing off the tyrannical rule of England. Think about that for a moment. You're living large, have just about everything you could want and you're willing to throw it all away, just to make the world a better place. The best you can hope for, if you lose, is that you'll lose all your money and property, spend several years in some prison and then get to live out the rest of your life with nothing. If you win, your life will be a little better, but the lives of all the poor people working for you, will probably get much better (then, as now costs flood down, profits, trickle down).

 If you check out the biographies of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence you'll find that many started out with very little and worked their way into positions of wealth and influence. Others were born into or adopted by wealthy families and benefited from higher education. The one thing they all had in common was an unrelenting drive to break away from Great Britain and create a country where people could leave free from oppression and tyranny (except for that whole slavery thing). These men freely gave their time, labor and money, risked their lives, wealth and families all in the name of freedom. Do you think they would have any respect for their social equals today? Would they even recognize any aspect of our government?

Sadly, the financial and political leaders in our country today understand nothing of sacrifice. With few exceptions, they've never had to worry where the next meal was coming from, never had to wonder how much longer they could afford to keep a roof over their head, or how much longer they could work a job that was slowly killing them. Ask them to help their fellow man, and they'll form a non-profit organization which collects money from the people who need it, gives them a tax shelter and pays them a healthy salary for doing nothing. In the meantime, people are losing their jobs and homes, trying to survive in an economy that has been decimated by the greedy.

If I sound somewhat bitter, it might be because I am. Every month I pay my bills and hope that no catastrophes pop up. So far, so good. Meanwhile, any proposal to remove the loopholes in the tax code, or law that might reduce the outrageous profits in their pet industry is might with outrage. If we make the wealthy pay more, then how can they afford to spend money to help the poor? Gee, I don't know. If my net worth was growing by $30 million each year, I have no idea how I would survive if that got cut back to $25 million. I'd probably have to stop tipping waitpersons $5 for a $400 dinner party.

For all those people out there who can't remember how many homes you own, I'd like to leave you with the closing of the Declaration of Independence. Something to think about on your next vacation: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."