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.

This is a battle that every generation of Americans has contended with. Today’s generation is not exempt, nor is tomorrow’s generation exempt. We engage in this battle to defend the ideas that define America again and again. And if we must fight this battle, then let’s make sure that we are well prepared. Let’s sharpen our ideas, study past battles, and prepare to stand strong in defense of American ideas.

What is the American idea? We’re tempted to run to the Declaration of Independence, but we can read the words here today in our 21st-century language. We can read the words in the Democratic Creed. It’s Equality, Democracy, Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity for every person, everywhere.

We have tried to heed FDR’s warning ever since he delivered it - defending Freedom by dispensing Justice and granting Opportunity to “all our citizens, whatever their background.” It’s our Duty as a government of the people to carry out this mission, and to do it well for all, Equally.

Hawaiʻi lawmakers are challenging the Citizens United ruling and the growing power of corporations in American politics. What is the value of a value? Values tell us when democracy has been betrayed — and why citizens must act to restore it.

We've never fully lived up to that commitment, but God knows we have never, in 240 years, walked away from it. Never walked away from it. And we're not going to walk away now.

Ronald Reagan said anyone can become an American by adopting the principles of the Declaration of Independence. We would add the Democratic Creed.