Author: daniel

Are you loyal to the Country or loyal to one man? Because you cannot have both.

“…all men are created equal…”  It’s the first thing we see in our Founding Principle.  Our brains seem to stop us right there, right there at that very first glance.  Half the world’s population not real happy, feeling alienated with the word “men”.  Then, so many more people angry, knowing they’re not treated as equal.  And many others, instilled with hubris, are so mad and determined to prove it not true. Anyone remaining, so disappointed in how far we have not come.  That leaves most of us paralyzed right out of the gate.  We just stop at our first glance.  Unable to move on to the really important part inside – the Equal, Unalienable Rights.  We’re stuck on the “…all men are created equal…” part.  We just can’t get beyond that first glance, to see the beauty inside.

This sentence meant to evolve mankind.  To look beyond that grizzly first glance.  To look beyond our own issues to see the heart of this sentence, not just the first thing that we see.  To see the heart of this sentence and understand, it’s much more than what it first looks like.  The first test, in this evolution of us, mankind, is the first words in our Founding Principle.

For all the people it means to Free.  We must evolve to look beyond that first glance.  To discover the heart and our own Freedom inside.  It’s ultimate goal, for us to look beyond that first glance.  For us to look to see what really matters.  For us to look inside this sentence, to look inside all of Us.

“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.”

Of all the sentences on the whole planet, throughout the history of mankind, this is the one sentence our Founding Fathers chose as the first statement in our first document on July 4^th, 1776, our first day. This one proposition declaring who we are and what we stand for. This one sentence defines an American. This is what everyone’s first thought should be when they see an American.  Once prompted, we all know, this is where we start.

This is America’s one Founding Principle. This is America’s Essence. The very genesis of our beloved Individual Liberty.  Every single one of us declared different and unique.  This is how we are all equal.  This our common bond.  A tribe of one, one tribe of all.

“All are created equal” should be America’s rally cry – cheered on by hundreds of millions of patriotic Americans.               

This website is dedicated to remind us who we are.  To ask the question, “How important is our Founding Principle to us?” It is dedicated to stress the magnitude of this Principle’s importance, to stress that it truly warrants demanding the ultimate discussion that America and the world needs to have. It is dedicated to remind us to prioritize this Principle. This is not some Supreme Court decision, not a sacred Amendment, this is not even our over-arching Constitution. This is what all of that is built upon. This is our very Foundation and it has been forgotten, lost, abandoned or reasoned away.

If we wish to remain a world leader, we must remember what got us here in the first place. We must remember that our strength comes from this Principle, not from hardware and steel.  We must remember who we are.  We must find the heart of America again.  We must stay the course of our beloved country.  As Americans, we must reason for our Founding Principle, not against it.  This is our choice.  Are we indeed the New World or do we go back to the ways of the old world?

This website is dedicated to ask the question – “What does ‘all are created equal’ even mean?”  Why it’s so important.  How it relates to our everyday life.  The possible potential of its implementation, and, as history shows, the likely consequences of ignoring it.  That one simple, yet most complex and profound sentence. The very bedrock of America on which all else is built. The genius of our forefathers barely fathomable.

Tens of thousands fought and died to create this nation based on this principle. Our Civil War cemeteries bear the souls of hundreds of thousands brave Americans who fought and died to preserve this principle. Countless others, before and after, have sacrificed their lives and their fortunes for this one principle.

Yet, how much do we speak of this noble cause for which so much has been sacrificed? You can listen for it yourself.  How often do we hear discussions on news or talk shows? How often do we read articles in magazines or newspapers on America’s Founding Principle? Around friends or family?  How often do we simply hear the words, “…all are created equal…” or, “unalienable”?  We don’t. It’s almost or actually is taboo.

I’m sure there is more to it than this, but I believe most of us, if not all, have a collective sub-conscience guilt. We all have prejudices. We haven’t completely gotten the “all men are created equal” thing yet. We can’t help pre-judging based on past experiences. Some of us more than others, but we all do it. It’s human, it’s in our survival DNA. Something different equals danger. Anyone who says they’re not biased is in denial or lying. But most of us know, down deep, we’re not there yet and we don’t want to admit it.

I think if we all face this, realize it in ourselves and others. If we finally see that our Founding Principle is the goal we are dedicated to, and that 1776 was only the kickoff. Then we can have this most imperative national discussion.

For we have reached a tipping point. Many politician’s very platform and many of the millions who support it, overtly mock our Founding Principle. The Principle which grants us all our beloved Individual Rights.  Banning people based on religion? Grouping all Mexicans as one? If millions of People’s Individual Liberty can be flushed away and that’s OK, then who are we? We have completely forgotten our Founding Principle. This is America’s Essence being burned while the crowds cheer. It could just as well have been our flag.

If we cannot draw the line here, at our very Founding Principle – there is no other “where then?” after that.

Do we allow tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, countless others before and after to have died in vain? Do we allow government of the people, by the people, and for the people to perish from this earth? All of America is built on our Founding Principle. We too, owe it our full measure of devotion.

If we truly Love America, at its very foundation, from our ultimate bedrock, at her very core.  If we truly Love who we are meant to be as Americans, then this is our patriotic duty.  Do not let her go silently into the night.  We must ask ourselves and every American you can – “What is America’s one Founding Principle?”  Think about and discuss the most important sentence in history.  If nothing else, just this simple request every single one of us can do.  Say the words out loud, “…all are created equal…”  “America’s one Founding Principle.”   Please, just make people hear the words once again. For no one can unring our Liberty Bell, even if it has a crack in it.                                                                       

We all seem to have a well-rehearsed answer.  We’ve all come to grips with it, in our own way.  “A lofty goal” or “I (We) have come a long way” is often the sad response.   Most don’t see it as realistically feasible.  “All with equal, unalienable Rights”, is so very fluid, even volatile to many of us.

We see the intransigence, stupidity and corruption.  We see the greed all around.  We can see all the people taking advantage of this Principle, both the rich and the poor.  Individuals, all the way up to whole countries.  Many even using these Rights as a weapon.

We think we know Fear now.  Yes, we’re afraid, with violence and hatred closing in.  This Founding Principle exposes us all to this.  It just seems to open up too many gray areas.  This Principle doesn’t seem to be an asset to our safety or help our security at all.  It actually seems almost obsolete.  Even to some apparently, as bad as an “enemy of the people”.

What we think also appears, pretty much, set in stone.  So there’s no need to think about it anymore.  No need for further discussion.

I propose we look at this Founding Principle again.  Delve into it a little more.  The Founding Principle to a whole New World, maybe the most important sentence in the history of mankind, is the Founding Principle to our United States of America.  You’d think that would truly be important to us.  That it would absolutely deserve another look.   Maybe worth putting our hubris aside and delving into it a little deeper.

We delve into physics from quarks to big bangs.  Delve into medicine with tons of specialists.  Car lovers know what bolt goes on the lower bracket for the alternator of a ’73 Barracuda.  Yet we don’t delve into our Founding Principle one bit.  The most important sentence in history.  We don’t promote this at all.  We don’t point out it’s our Founding Principle.  We don’t ask what it means, don’t think about what it does, and don’t consider what this could do for mankind.  We don’t point out what happens without it.  We don’t mention how using “they” and ‘them” can violate our very Founding Principle.  We don’t wonder what our Founders hoped to bring about.  We don’t think of the universal implications.  There is absolutely so much there to delve into.

We can delve into how this grants our sacred Individual Liberty.  Discuss how this halts the power of a tyrant.  Delve into the personal responsibility required, with the pride and dignity that can result.  We can actually show how Hope can be born.

We can delve into the Liberty that we all must receive and understand the Liberty we all must give.  How trust is inherent and can actually bring about our safety and security. There is so much more in-between and beside, our Founding Principle should have its own channel.

Our Founding Principle is our greatest export.  Human Rights are what we stand for.  I believe America was born to save the world with this.  Our Revolution, built on this Hope.

Maybe we should delve into it more.

We must stop this now!  I’m not going to wait for another bloody Revolution.  I’m not going to wait for another Gettysburg to occur.  I’m not going to wait for the concentration camps to get full.  All these deaths, all these wars, all this suffering, to decide just one notion.  The notion of superior blood.  The superior blood of Kings.  The superior blood of races.  The superior blood of Nazis.  All these wars, fought to the death, with the blood of so many.  To decide this notion of superior blood.  To decide this notion of whether we’re equal or not.

You’d think we would know what side we’re on by now.  The outcomes, so far, one- sided.  But the Loyalists still live, the Rebels still here, Nazis, very much among us.  The notion of superior nowhere nearly dead.  I’ll bet it’s even inside us.

In the ash heap of history, the coals can stay warm.  Just some fuel and some fanning, all it needs to relight.  I know, we know, that ash heaps on fire.  It’s been burning for years.  We chose to ignore it.  We may have even enjoyed the comforting warmth from its glow.

But you can see the flames are higher now, licking at the curtains.  Something must be done right now!  We must see this fire burning out of control!  Superior blood still fueling and fanning.  Screaming, “It’s them, not us.  Blame the weak, not the strong”.  The songs of a tyrant all sound the same.

We now boo Free Speech, the Golden Rule, as well.  We take from the poor before we give up that bling.  The advantaged, now victims, we must join and help them.  We know where the problem lies.  With those people, with them.

The leaders that we’re electing now, all across the land, show the South is indeed rising.  The fire is hot, once again.  We now routinely try to stop or negate the greatest power, voting.  Equal opportunity suppressed, we essentially apply sanctions and blockade our very own people.  Then blame them for not succeeding.  That’s right here and right now.  Let’s build a wall, what the heck, ban a whole country, and demonize a whole religion.  At the bottom of the pot you’ll find once again, this is all about the notion of superior blood.

The South is rising again, but this time it’s worse.  This time it’s in Wisconsin.  In Iowa and Nebraska as well.  The South rises in Maine.  Even in Pennsylvania now.  All those deaths for one notion, and it still lives on.  The notion of superior blood.

This country was born to fight this notion.  Our Founding Principle states it.  Right there, for all to see, in black and white.  All created equal.  We started against a King.  Our fight against the notion of superior blood.

We have paid countless lives to suppress this one evil, this notion of superior blood.  When will we see it?  In us and in “them”?  When will we see that there is no “them”?  This is what America fights for.  It has been since day one.  The idea of unalienable equal Rights, and the notion that I am no one’s equal and that no one else is mine.  No one my master.  The notion that no blood, superior to mine.

Superior blood!  This country is made to fight you!  All these wars, all these battles, all the souls lost over this notion.  America born to fight you, from its birth on day one.  First statement, first document, declared on that first day.  “…all men are created equal…” this is who we are.  All these lives lost, throughout all these wars, this is what we gave them for.  The fight against the notion of superior blood.

I’m not going to wait!  I’m not going to let us throw this away. Too much has been given.  Too much has been lost.  These lives will not be lost in vain, over my dead body, too.  Because I’ve seen what always happens.  These fires, how much they consume. The horrible suffering that always comes with it.  Each time, many times worse than before.  I’ve seen the cause, it’s there each time.  The notion of superior blood.

Complicate it all you want.  For heritage or land.  For loved ones or honor.  I know every soul had their own unique reasons, many noble, not perfect, both sides more complex.  But boil it all down.  It’s always been found.  At the bottom of the pot, when it’s all said and done, steaming and hissing, it’s the notion of superior blood.

That ash heap is burning.  Most of our states are on fire.  The polls brimming with racists and bigots, though most “know” they are not.  “I’m not racist, just realist.”  This thought is prevalent, no one wants to admit it.  “The Blacks are a problem, the Mexicans, invaders.  The Muslims want to kill us all.  My blood might be superior.”  We still can’t decide which side we’re on.  After all of these years, after all of these wars, after all of these deaths, we still can’t decide on the notion of superior blood.

We need a new concept of what “superior” is.  Maybe it’s more, yes more than we thought.  Maybe its resilience when a whole planet seems against you.  Try to smile when it’s always uphill.  Try to sing when your loved ones get stolen.  Carry on, even with no Hope at all.  Maybe there is a strength you just can’t imagine.  Maybe there’s more to it than thought.  Question superior.  Do we know what it is?  Maybe through these centuries, our concept has been wrong.  Evolution, another way.  Maybe it’s we who need to grow up.  Maybe, not think we know it all.

Superior blood has lost all these wars.  It should give us a clue who the good guys are.  It should give us a clue about superior blood.  It should make us decide what side we’re on.  Exactly what that flag waving stands for.

We must stop this now!  While we still have a chance.  We have the tool to stomp this out.  It’s been staring us right in the face since day one.  The goal of America herself.  To fight this notion of superior blood.  She decided long ago, it’s the bedrock where our flag is planted.  She knew what side we were on.  In this fight against this notion.

We must stop this now!  The progression we have to see.  Math has no reason to lie.  It will be billions this time, this fire will consume.  It’s happened every time.  We can’t wait for another battle at Camden, or another slaughter like Gettysburg, with now our sons and daughters in that ditch.  Our grief then, horrible to imagine.  We can’t wait until we open the gates of Auschwitz again, to decide which side we’re on.  On this notion of superior blood.

And the reason our Country was born.

 

 

I know this sounds ridiculous to say that we’ve forgotten our Founding Principle.  This thought too simple to entertain.  Of course we know that all are created with equal, unalienable Rights.  We are one of the most diverse countries on the planet.  We can see diversity in the office, on TV, at the grocery store.  We’re not at war with each other.  No Synagogues or Mosques burning.  No rogue militias controlling the countryside.  People are free to make their own choices.  Americans have the liberty to be all they can be.

So there’s really nothing to re-hash here.  Ridiculous to bring this up.  This simple thought – no answer to the problems of today.  The Liberty of the Individual is mostly alive and well here.  We’re just working on a few details.  But for the most part, we got this.  Our Founding Principle has not been forgotten.  That’s just ridiculous to say.  We’ve long ago thought this simple thought through.  We are now so much more complex.

Yet, I can’t help but notice that millions of Americans found it not important enough to cite when these unalienable Rights were taken from an untold numbers of Hispanics labeled “murderers and rapist” based on their nationality.  Millions of  Americans did not mention our Founding Principle when people were banned based on religion “until we get this thing figured out”.  Millions of Americans did not delve deeply into how chastising free speech at a football game or calling the free press the enemy of the people went completely against our cherished Equal and Unalienable Rights of the Individual.  Millions who do not seem to notice the most important part of all of this.  All with equal, unalienable Rights was taken away.  They took away unalienable Rights.  Millions of Americans threw away our very Founding Principle.

And to me, I believe what is equally sad.  Is the millions of us Americans, who still don’t proclaim – That this violates America’s Founding Principle and why our Founding Principle, these Founding Rights are so important.  And how pure American it is.

To me, it sounds ridiculous to say, that we remember our Founding Principle.  That thought is too simple to entertain.

 

Not a talent. Not something I give to others. This is a gift for me, for my pleasure, for me to enjoy. My whole life through. I was given the gift of truly enjoying people’s stories. Enjoying hearing where they’re from, how they were raised, hearing the joys, the trials and tribulations of their lives. The gift of wanting to look and really see where they’re coming from. To imagine a moment in their shoes. I love that moment. With that moment, I can live more than just my one life. With those moments I can experience much more than one lifetime allows.

Listening, I can get a glimpse of a new point of view, different from my own, a new experience. I can experience moments of another person’s life. One I never would have had in my one lifetime. This gift, not always meadows and butterflies. Such is life. A glimpse of the joy, a taste of the pain. Another person’s life I never would have known of, in my one lifetime.

I sharpened and polished this gift. I learned how to enable and encourage people to talk about themselves. For me, with this gift and people’s tendencies, not all that difficult. It seems people want to tell you their story. They like to tell you their side. I honed two key elements required to enjoy this gift. To listen to what they say and to think about what they said. Not how it relates to me, a common mistake, but how it relates to them.

This is where I get to put myself in their shoes, where I get to experience another life. I get to see a different view I never would have known. I get to play with my gift again!

One of my greatest joys is when I say, “I never thought of that”. Yes, I realize I’m “using” people for my own enlightenment, but what is it when both sides come out better? Win-win, I think.

This gift, fairly guilt-free. Because yes, the pain comes with it, their pain, now felt. The shattering of long-held beliefs comes with it. The loss of the comfort of being “right” and others “wrong” hits hard. If I really listen, I find that most people have good reasons for doing what they do. It’s hard to judge once you’ve heard their whole story. Which is the only way you can really live a moment in their shoes.

There is a price with this gift, Conservatives can now have good reasons, Progressives, very valid points. The joy of righteousness, now hard to maintain. “Normal” just a memory. To realize from all these moments in the shoes of others, “there go I”, makes my foundation shaky. I don’t feel as grounded. This gift, what, a curse? No, not to be.

This gift, a blessing I enjoy to this day. I don’t play with it as much as I used to. But my life is much richer than my life alone, without other lives explored, without other lives lived. I discovered a wonderful world when I finally realized, just how little I know.  And with the weight of my own life, so much to bear, I can carry that weight, the load lighter now. The less judging of others, now possible with this gift, the load off my shoulders, immeasurable. I now have only one I can change, only one I need to judge. This is the gift I have. For me.

She’s been standing right in front of us.  Lovingly gazing at us all.  Trying to catch our eye.  We know she’s there but she’s not in our league.  She’s naïve and cute and truly sweet.  But in this complex world, she doesn’t understand.  We’re afraid it’s not all that simple.

Yet there’s something unfamiliar.  It feels rather odd, like there’s something we don’t know.  But right now we’ve got more pressing things, more important things on our plate.

So we look left.  We look right.  Avoiding her eye altogether.  Yet each way seems to end in abyss.  In our wisdom, we still turn away.  Confident that we know best.

The whole time she’s still right in front of us.  Waiting and still loving.  Through the years she’s been soft.  Through the years she’s been strong.  She’s been bold and yet so quiet.  She’s been gently resolved to loving us always.  Knowing someday she’ll catch our eye and we will see her, see her for who she really is.  We’ll see she’s been trying to reach us from the very first moment.

She wants to share the Love that she knows.  To share the Joy that’s in her heart.  To teach us a better way – her very trust in us forging our true loyalty.

Look straight ahead.  We must look forward.  Straight into America’s eyes.  To find what we’ve been missing.  To see what we might not know.  A concept maybe not thought of.  Maybe, believed impossible.  To find the Love that’s behind her gaze.  To find the reason for this Truth we hold.

Please look, here’s our Unity.  She’s right there in front of us.  She’s been right there this whole time for us.  She still trusts us to do the right thing.

“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.”

Please, take a moment, this sentence deserves at least that.  Put aside what you think of it.  Put aside what you long ago decided.  Just consider this.  Of all the sentences on the whole planet, throughout the history of mankind, this is the one sentence our Founding Fathers chose as the first statement in our first document, declared on our first day in a Brand New World.

I can’t imagine a more important place for a sentence to hold.  How much more important can a sentence be than the Founding Principle for a whole New World?  This one sentence.  It must be important.

One sentence that includes all of mankind, every person you can see and every person you can’t.  Born with equal Rights no one can take away.  This is bigger than a few landowners.  Bigger than one race.  Bigger than a whole continent.  Bigger than any religion.  This sentence includes all.  Every single person on the planet.  It grants our beloved Individual Liberty to us all in order to bring about a whole New World.  This sentence, the most important sentence in history, for us all.

This one sentence.  America’s Cause declared.  America’s purpose set in stone.  This is the very goal of America herself.  Our main export and import.  The definition of American.  Our Uniting Rally Cry.  Right there in black and white.  Not some ghost or myth.  No “maybe” about it.  Everyone can see it.  You can touch it.  As real as you can get.  Sky is blue.  Water is wet.  This is America’s Founding Principle.  It is absolutely there.  America’s beginning, it’s means and it’s ends.

America, we have lost or forgotten this Founding Principle.  Some have reasoned it away, others have completely abandoned it.  Our very Founding Principle.  You would think that a Founding Principle would be important.  Like it would really matter to a country.  That you would hear it mentioned once in a while.

Now I ask, there’s no effort required, just to listen.  Listen as you go about your daily lives.  Just make a mental note or count on your fingers, the number of times you hear this sentence spoken, the number of times you hear the phrase “…all men are created equal…” or just how often you hear the word “unalienable”.  Go ahead, just listen.  I’ve been listening intently for at least ten years now.  You’ll find you don’t need a notebook, calculator or abacus.  You’ll probably not need all the fingers on one hand.  You’ll find this sentence is no longer spoken.  This sentence is no longer heard.  The most important sentence in the history of mankind and yet it’s not spoken out loud.

We have all heard this sentence before.  Every one of us has.  We’ve made up our minds long ago what it means and have moved on to the pressing issues at hand.  This sentence has no bearing on these issues of now.

So there was no mention of this sentence when we elected our first Black American President.  I guess it has no bearing when we speak of equal pay or opportunity.  It has nothing to do with lumping all Mexican immigrants as murderers and rapists.  It has no bearing when we ban a whole Muslim country.  It has nothing to do with students at Berkeley and even the President trying to stop Free Speech or Free Press.  This sentence has no bearing on terrorism or the Hope needed to curb crime.  It’s not mentioned at all, even when Nazis marched in our streets.  You’d think this sentence would have been mentioned somewhere in there!  Anywhere!  It should have been mentioned in every one of them.

The best place to hide truly is in plain sight.  We didn’t even notice it was lost.

The Founding Principle of The United States of America, the most important sentence in the history of mankind, deserves a second look.  It deserves to be mentioned.

It deserves much more than that.  It deserves spotlights and bells ringing.  It deserves reciting this to our flag before class and ballgames.  It deserves a cable channel all its own.  This is America’s one Founding Principle.  This is the Truth we hold.  The Proposition, we as a country, are dedicated to.  How can this sentence become so unimportant that we never speak of it?  How can we strive for a goal we never hear?  It’s like trying to get to heaven and never mentioning God.  Please see this magnitude by how far I stretched that.  This sentence is that important.  All of God’s children are at stake.  And yet, this sentence rarely spoken, this sentence, so rarely heard.

So first, before we can work on it, before we can discuss it, before we can speak of it, before we even hear of it or notice that it’s gone.

The first thing we have to do, is to remember that it is there.  Because we have not completely forgotten this sentence, we have forgotten where we put it.  It’s the first statement in our first document, with us from moment one.  The most important sentence in the history of mankind is America’s one Founding Principle.  We all know it’s there.  Yet we don’t say it out loud.  And apparently “it goes without saying” literally happens.  Because this Principle has truly been lost or forgotten, reasoned away or completely abandoned.

This website is dedicated to remind us who we are, at our core. Dedicated to stress where this sentence is found.  Its place, its absolute importance set in stone.  Our very Founding Principle.  Our one Cause.  Our Creed.  This website is dedicated to take that second look, to say the words out loud.  Dedicated to ring our Liberty Bell as loudly as I possibly can.

“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.”

This sentence is important.  But where it’s placed is also.  This part, we seem to have forgotten.  Because the first question is not, “What is our Founding Principle?”  The question should be, “Where is this Principle?”  We need to remember where we can find it.  Its place, the first key to know who we are.  Yes, the sentence itself is where it gets fuzzy.  We can indeed get to that.  (Please see the rest of this blog.)  But first of all, before all else, we must all realize where it is.  We must see it as our one Founding Principle.  The bedrock of this great Nation.  To secure these Rights is why our country was formed.  It all starts right here.

Then we must speak of it.  Bring it up.  Mention it when we hear, “them” and “they” and “us”.  Our Founding Principle grants every Individual unique.  There is no one like you.  Never has been and never will be again.  Pre-judging, the foe.  I am not like any other brown-eye.  Only I am like me.  This is how we’re equal.  It’s Zen.  No one is my equal.  Individual Liberty born right there.  All lives matter, right there.

We need to think about this and speak about it out loud.  It’s the very Founding Principle of this country we Love.  Its importance, paramount.  America’s noble Cause, truly –  to preserve all mankind.

Yes please, now take a moment, the most important sentence in the history of mankind.   America’s Founding Principle, first statement, first document, declared to the world on day one – this sentence deserves that moment.  This sentence could make all the difference in the world.  It deserves, at least, that second look.  It deserves to be mentioned.  It deserves much more than that.

 

 

 

I rarely curse to people, so that when I do – it gets folks attention.  I rarely ask for help, so when I do, folks know I truly need it.  I have never jumped and screamed about a lost election and I lost twenty – eight years in a row (1980-2008), so that if or when I do jump and scream – people know it must be truly important.

Therefore: Damn it!  I am jumping and screaming!!

For at least the last 40 years, in my own small circle, I have been a good listener, understanding, empathetic, tolerant, calm and reasonable, a peacemaker, consistently embracing Love, attempting to quell hate.  Most often biting my tongue for diplomatic or practical reasons.  I have never been a crusader, never, as an adult, been to a protest, rarely do I even confront people on most issues.  I very much realize my own selfishness or sloth, apathy and/or cynicism has played a role in my non-passion.  But I still had it in the back of my mind, the reason, like an ace in the hole; that if something is truly imperative, example; life of a loved one, life of my country, I will curse, I will ask for help, I will jump and scream.  And most importantly – folks will listen.  Forty years of discipline amidst various turmoil and tribulations has earned me this regard.

So again I say, Damn it, I am jumping and screaming!!! This is the imperative.

All are created equal.

This one “simple” sentence is the Essence of America.  The energy of a thousand warehouses full of wheat condensed into one little vial.  The Essence of America – all are created equal.  It’s the first statement in our first document.

We all know it, we’ve heard it our whole lives, it’s a given.  We, as a nation, have moved onto the more complex issue of our times. Right?

And yet, America’s Founding Principle is being tossed, like an ice cube, onto a hot street with cheers by most Trump supporters and barely a whisper from the opposition. And it’s melting fast.

If our Essence was truly thought about deeply, we would know it grants Freedom and Liberty to the individual.  We would know the essence of America’s Essence outlaws pre-judging – the true hope for mankind.  We would know that “simple” sentence is the most complex sentence known to mankind.

We would know that grouping all Muslims as one, goes completely against our Founding Principle.  We would know that grouping all Mexicans as “murderers and rapists”, goes absolutely against our Essence as Americans.  We would absolutely know that grouping all Blacks, Jews, Italians, whoever you want, as one, completely disqualifies you as President, since you don’t even believe in our Founding Principle.

This was Trump’s platform – not an off-the-cuff remark.  His very platform mocks our Founding Principle.

This is the imperative!

If we cannot find the courage to scream about that – then who are we? If we don’t stand up for our very Founding Principle? If we don’t hold these Truths? If we are not dedicated to that proposition? If our very Essence evaporates – then government of the people, by the people, shall perish from this earth. The rocks and the dirt will still be here. People still milling about. Water will still run downhill. But our Essence will be lost – a million times more powerful than that vial of wheat.

I consistently hear, “That can’t happen here.” “America is too strong for that to happen.” “We are way too complex and complicated for one “simple” sentence from hundreds of years ago to mean much of anything anymore.” We don’t give it another thought. “That’s enough, move on to the next issue.”

The “sky is falling” mentality has also numbed us. “Everybody is so dramatic.” One earth-shattering potential threat after another. We can’t gauge magnitude anymore or even care. “It’s all so screwed up!” We don’t even know where to start.

So I – with my deserved regard, scream and yell, “Damn it! Listen!! This is where to start!!

The beginning of America. Our birthday. The first statement in our first document. Our Founding Principle. The Essence of America.

This is finally what this letter is all about. Our Founding Principle should have a channel of its own. The enlightenment from which could spark a real revolution. Which is exactly what our founders did. And what we are needing from you and all of us now. The American people need Civics 101. Because it’s not Trump that is the problem. It’s the millions of Americans who think it’s okay to throw out the Founding Principle and wrap themselves in our flag at the same time. They are who we need to discuss this with.

I can reach, at most, about a hundred people right now, maybe. That’s all. We the people need the media – you folks – with the microphones and the presses to reach the masses and ask them the question: What is our Founding Principle? And more importantly: Why is it there and what does that one “simple” sentence do for America and ultimately mankind? And truly think about it. Don’t brush it off as a given. Don’t just “move on”. Truly discuss this one world-changing sentence. How it effects our daily lives (how we look at one another). What it bestows upon all of us (Liberty, dignity, responsibility, self-respect, etc.) What it would mean for the world if we could see each other from the inside out. All of this from one sentence. The pure genius of our founders barely fathomable. The Essence of America – the Hope for mankind.

So I am cursing!! I am asking for help!! I am jumping and screaming!!! And I implore you to join me. This is our imperative!!! Open up this topic. Explain to America what is at stake. That nothing is more important than our Foundation, our Essence.

And it’s quickly melting.