We’ve had the privilege of growing up with these rights already in place. They’re well known by most people, even if they are misstated or misunderstood. The First Amendment freedoms - of religion, of speech, of the press, of the right to assemble and petition the government - these are brought up time and time again. Pundits, protestors, reporters, faith practitioners, all lean on the words of that First Amendment to defend their positions, even as those position oppose one another.

All people are created equal, with no natural right to rule over others. So, how is it that we have governments? Well, we freely consent to being governed, by asking others to govern us. But they do so under the law. It’s an employment contract, and just as we can choose who governs us, we can remove and replace them if they fail us.

Equality leads inexorably to freedom, to justice under the law, to the opportunity to thrive, to democracy through our consent to be governed.

This is the Democratic Creed - all of its principles tie together: Equality. Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity. Democracy. Not separate ideas, but ideas that depend on one another.

The Statue of Liberty represents "the promise of pluralism in a more fair and just society." The struggle to achieve, despite our flaws, is our promise - like Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

Like the Democratic Creed itself.

The words of the Declaration of Independence move me still. Read them alone, in a group, in public. Hear the words - without commentary, without interpretation, without drama. Hear them as colonists heard them in 1776 - as British subjects casting off their monarchy and facing an unknown future - facing it with hope, with determination, with resolve. Without knowing what lay ahead for them or their families. But willing to try.