That part of the Declaration has been perverted to the role of government to makes us all “equal” – not in rights but de facto equal – as in equal medical care, affirmative action, and other such silliness. Of course, if one points out the perversion over the original Declaration, then the old “slavery canard” comes up – as if the institution of human ownership of other humans was central to the Jeffersonian concepts in the Declaration itself.

I find it almost universal nowadays that people who wish to stand for principals of liberty (“negative rights”) are being attacked (past and present) by statists for “hypocrisy” whether it is Jefferson owning slaves or say Walter Block traveling on a government road or some 70 year old libertarian receiving Socialist Insecurity after having paid involuntarily into the system for over 40 years. I can’t say that I accept this statist criticism – admittedly, men and institutions are often flawed but that does not make the ideals wrong! Life Liberty Property and Happiness can be appreciated even by imperfect people!

By today’s standards, King George III was a very mild tyrant indeed. He taxed his American colonists at a rate of only pennies per annum. His actual impact on their personal lives was trivial. He had arbitrary power over them in law and in principle, but in fact it was seldom exercised. If you compare his rule with that of today’s U.S. Government, you have to wonder why we celebrate our independence.