Each year on July 4th, the Declaration of Independence is read from the balcony of The Old State House in Boston. I used to go listen to that reading with my family, but for the past few years I've been out sailing on a friend's boat for the holiday weekend, so each year I have brought along a copy of the Declaration and read it aloud to the few of us there. Reading it aloud like this has made me appreciate it far more than I ever did before and, interestingly, it has sounded different to my ears each time. Part of this is just the natural way a well written piece of philosophy unfolds with multiple readings, but that’s not all of it. The Declaration of Independence was written to be philosophy applied to current events. It grounds its statements with a vision of the proper order of the world and with a comparison between that and how the English monarch was actually ordering one corner of it. I see this spirit in the words, and my thoughts turn to the current events of my lifetime, and of that year when I'm reading it. I read the same words every year, but they don't sound the same.
I'm not the only one who hears more than just static words. My listeners have accused me of adding passages for partisan political reasons - thinking that I was embellishing the original words to accuse our current government of something. They have expressed doubt, disbelief, and more, always because something in the document made them see current events.
The list of complaints against King George is long and detailed so there are plenty of opportunities, but I have never changed or added even a single word in any of these readings. When people heard me read, "He has made judges dependent on his will alone..." or "He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power", some of these listeners assumed I was accusing President George of those actions. Some people would stop me when I read the complaints about limiting trial by jury, altering the forms of our government, using mercenaries to wage war, transporting people to foreign countries for pretended offenses, and more. All present heard the same words, but the meaning did not always sound the same.
Last year, at about this time, I wrote to some progressive political organizations suggesting that they urge their membership to read the Declaration on July 4th. Later that day I opened the New York Times to find an Op-Ed by William Kristol urging the same thing for all Americans. The reasons he wrote in his article made it clear that he heard – and expected his readers to hear - a different document than I did.
Well, another year has passed, and with it the government has changed. My own vote this past November was influenced by my desire to "get our Constitution back". This process has begun in some ways, and has not begun in others. All of those news stories are in my head as I read the paper and talk to my friends. In a couple days I'll be back on the boat and reading the Declaration of Independence again for all who will listen. Tonight, as I lay out clothes, equipment, and my copy of that great document, I wonder how it will sound to my ears this year.
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