(do) We hold these truths to be self-evident...?

The Founding Fathers of America were an interesting lot. These upper class, white, (mostly) land-holding gentlemen held beliefs that were used as the bedrock for our political and moral system. They wrote documents and sparked revolution and created an environment that roused other (mostly not upper class) Americans to take up arms and rebel against the dominant world power at that time.

But, alas... this is neither a history lesson nor a political endorsement. Rather, I was struck by something written in The Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson uses the phrase, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Self-evidence is a marvelous thing because it eliminates outside mitigating factors that might force us to live in someone else's reality.It is up to the individual to decide what is important.

If an idea or belief is self-evident, then it should be easy enough to demonstrate; It should be obvious. All men are created equal...

...unless they make minimum wage
...or they are a different religion.

...if they have a college degree
...or a boat on the lake.

...unless they don't have a fixed address
...or eat their meals at a shelter.

...if we belong to the same social circles
...or we feel comfortable around one another.

Do we really believe this... that all people are created equal? Or is it merely a quaint patriotic cloak we wrap ourselves in as we look down on others who are not us? Our treatment of one another is (evidently) what helps define who we are. The next time we decide that we are 'proud to be an American,' maybe we can take a minute to reflect on what this could mean. That the implications of our beliefs have long-lasting effects on ourselves and those we rub shoulders with every day. True patriotism demands an equality based on the value of each person.

Montanans are patriotic people and proper patriotism is something to be applauded.

...self-evidently speaking, that is.