INDEPENDENCE

When there is the real commitment to declare independence, be it from the British king or foreign oil, this is what it looks and sounds and feels like (with my personal undying gratitude to Messrs Jefferson, Adams and Franklin):

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation...

This is how it ends:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

WOW!

Read the whole thing, it doesn’t take long. Happy Birthday USA!