“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.”  To paraphrase the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., despite this strong affirmation of basic principles of government in the Declaration of Independence, the practice of these basis principles by the United States has been somewhat schizophrenic.

The incomplete devotion to equality began with the Declaration itself.  To get the Declaration (and the accompanying resolution actually approving independence) adopted, the proponents of independence had to agree to the demand of certain states that they delete a proposed condemnation of the slave trade as one of the grievances of the colonies against the British Crown.  When it came time to convert the informal union created by the Articles of Confederation into a constitution for true national government, the Framers expressly protected the slave trade for fifteen years and was unable to decide if slaves were people or property (deciding to count them as three-fifths of a person).

While Abigail Adams repeatedly wrote to her husband John Adams, asking that in setting up the new government under the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress should not forget the ladies, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, both forgot the ladies.  It took another 140 years to get women the right to vote, and another 60 years before the courts decided to read the Equal Protection Clause as also covering gender discrimination.

It took a Civil War to bring slavery to an end.  However, the desire for a return to normalcy brought an end to the enforcement of the new constitutional rights to due process and  equal protection, and the right to vote for almost 60 years.  That desire for a return to normalcy also led to a false equivalency between the states and soldiers who had fought for the duly-elected government of the United States and those who fought under the banner of office holders and generals who violated their oaths to support and defend the Constitution and took up arms against the United States, a false equivalency that survives to today.

In the 1970s, it led to certain people opposing a constitutional amendment to formally bar discrimination against women.  In one of the ironies of history, the opponents argued that the formal adoption of an equal rights amendment would lead to rights for gays and homosexuals.  Even without that amendment, the courts have interpreted the Equal Protection Clause as protecting both the rights of women and the rights of the LGBT community.

This year has seen some further steps toward the promise that all are created equal.  While the Fourth is a day to celebrate, the fight is not over.  In less than a month, Fox will be hosting the three-ring circus that will be the Republican Presidential debates.  In those debates, we will hear candidates stating that Hispanic immigrants are somehow less equal than others, that members of the LGBT community are less equal than straights, and that women’s liberty is less than their employer’s liberty or is lost upon the woman becoming pregnant.  In the words of the Constitution, we strive for a more perfect union, but we are not at perfection yet.

So along with whatever other patriotic music you might listen to today, a brief play-list of my favorite modern patriotic music:  U2 — Pride (In the Name of Love); Melissa Etheridge — Tuesday Morning; The Indigo Girls — Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee; and Buffalo Springfield-Something’s Happening Here.