WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS

Background: The Fourth of July holiday is a celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of our democracy. Since that day 250 years ago, American citizens have worked hard to live up to the ideals of that founding document. In recent years, however, many have felt that instead of progressing closer to those ideals, the country has actually regressed further away. In fact, it oftentimes seems that our own political leaders have completely forgotten that these ideals even exist. We believe, therefore, that the time has come to return to and remember those original ideals proclaimed in the Declaration. The Declaration calls these ideals "truths" because the authors considered these ideals to be not only self-evident, but also universal and timeless. "We hold these truths" --the famous phrase that opens the second paragraph of the Declaration--is the statement that announces to the world that these ideals are ones that we hold deeply and proudly.