Inauguration Day 2009

Jan 20th, 2009: Inauguration Day

As I grow older and hopefully wiser, my appreciation for the American system of government deepens. Today we swear in a new President chosen by the citizens of this great Country.

This week I reread the Declaration of Independence. In a world that was once dominated by unelected tyrants, the words of the second paragraph are devastating and profound.

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 of 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.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

I believe it is the hope of every person to be free from tyrannical governments and to pursue their lives in peace and prosperity. I pray that others are inspired by these great words and that those enslaved by dictators and tyrants will rise up and cast off their shackles.