First things first. The image to the right is from AmericasWonderland.com, they have some absolutely amazing shots of Kansas for sale.

Got to thinking about the 4th of July, and what it means. There are so many things it means to Americans.

Some just think of it as a day off from work. Others think of it as a day to cook outdoors and partake of adult beverages. A few don’t even stop to think of it as anything special.

The official name of the holiday celebrated on July fourth of every year in the United States is Independence Day. Unofficially, people think of it as the symbol of the day the United States of America declared its independence from England and the monarchy.

July 4th is all those things to me. Even “just another day”.

But it is also more to me. Its about the reasons we declared our independence. Not just the symbolic act of giving the crown the middle finger, but the underlying sentiment that brought about that figurative gesture.

It started because England imposed laws on people who had almost no say in those laws. They had no chance of changing those laws, no representation to the parliment in London. The Governors of the colonies were appointed by, and ultimately reported to Englands crown. Many of these laws denied the residents of the American colonies certain rights they believed they still had as English citizens.

Of course we know that just declaring our independence on a piece of paper didn’t mean the English crown stopped trying to exert control over what it felt were English subjects.

Americans fought and died for the freedoms expressed in the Bill of Rights… and more importantly they fought for the rights that AREN’T expressed there. You see, the guys who wrote those documents knew that power corrupts, and someday someone would say “its not in the Constitution, so you don’t get it”. Well, they forsaw that. That is why the ninth and tenth amendments are probably two of the most important rights… they don’t specify one.

The 9th amendment says “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”, meaning the authors of the document didn’t intend for this to be used as the “Be All/End All” of your list of rights.

The 10th amendment says “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”, meaning the authors knew the Federal government would move to usurp power (or rights) not expressly granted to it, but those powers are to be retained by the people at local levels (state), not the national government.

To me, The Fourth is about remembering not only how we physically declared our independence in a document and subsequent war… but more importantly… WHY. To protect our rights. Something many Americans seem all to willing to give away to a federal government bent on destroying what made this country. Individuals. Lots of individuals, yes… but each wanting a government that would leave them to live their lives, so long as they didn’t interfere with their neighbors rights.

As a libertarian I can honestly say that I feel we’ve given up the ship. We’ve allowed the government to take from us what the men in 1776 KNEW IT WOULD WANT TO TAKE.

Have a safe 4th of July. And maybe think about it. Not just today in 2008… but WHY we actually celebrate the day.