This fourth of July, when you
watch the fireworks
will you think about
this?
The Declaration of Independence?
We should.
After all, the holiday's meant to honor this,
not just fireworks.
Though, those are nice.
Although it's ironic that since
America's founding,
government has grown so much
that you may not be allowed to buy fireworks
where you live.
All these places ban them
in the name of safety,
The Declaration
isn't about safety
or things government should do
it's about limiting government,
it's about freedom.
The founders were sick of British oppression.
They worried about government having
too much power.
Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues
wrote the Declaration
to create a new form of government,
one where people could rule themselves.
It worked.
When the Declaration was signed,
America was considered a backwater.
But very few years later, America was the
most prosperous and
probably the freest country in the world.
The fourth of July celebrates the Declaration,
which led to the Constitution,
the document that really
lays out the rules
meant to limit government.
"Trust no man with too much power",
said Jefferson
"bind them with the chains of the Constitution."
It's chains
have done a lot of good.
We have a right not to have our home searched
without a warrant,
a right to bear arms,
to free speech.
It's good we declared
independence from Britain
because in Britain, government sentenced this man
to more than a year in jail
"I've caused a breach of peace.
I'm being arrested"
for making this Facebook live video
outside a courthouse.
Others get locked up for things they write.
Hundreds get arrested every year.
Sentenced for writing an offending comment.
Fortunately in America, thanks to
the Constitution, we can say most anything we want
without being jailed.
We also have a right to bear arms,
but the country we rebelled against has
some of the strictest gun regulations in the world.
Those regulations haven't stopped crime.
So now they're going after people who have knives.
One British police agency bragged
about a weapon sweep
that found scissors and pliers.
But don't worry, they've been taken off the streets.
I'm glad I live in America
where I can carry pliers
and speak freely.
And there's more to the Constitution
than the First and Second Amendments.
Supreme Court overruled.
The Supreme Court overruled.
Supreme Court overruled.
The Constitution divided government power
in ways that limit
authoritarian politicians from both
parties.
We are throwing them the hell out of our country.
Trump's own appointee ruled that a law
making it easier to deport some immigrants
was too vague.
Allow intelligence agencies to track
who a terrorist is in contact with.
The Supreme Court stopped
the Obama administration a hundred times.
No President Obama,
the Fourth Amendment says government
cannot just search people's cell phones.
They have to get a search warrant.
No, you can't just declare
carbon dioxide to be a pollutant.
A major setback tonight for President Obama's
climate change initiative.
I'm glad we have this document.
It has often kept presidents and Congress
and judges from grabbing too much power.
The limits stated in here
have not fully succeeded,
unfortunately.
Thomas Jefferson promised
"a wise and frugal government."
Frugal?
Give me a break!
We're already more than 21
trillion dollars in debt.
Jefferson also wrote about leaving men "free to regulate
their own pursuits."
Now we've got more than 180,000 pages of rules.
Still, the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence
have helped keep us free.
That's something
to celebrate.