Independence Day -- via Barbara Ehrenreich in the NYTimes

"...Today, those who believe that the war on terror requires the
sacrifice of our liberties like to argue that 'the Constitution
is not a suicide pact.' In a sense, however, the Declaration of
Independence was precisely that.

"By signing Jefferson's text, the signers of the declaration were
putting their lives on the line. England was then the world's
greatest military power, against which a bunch of provincial
farmers had little chance of prevailing. Benjamin Franklin wasn't
kidding around with his quip about hanging together or hanging
separately. If the rebel American militias were beaten on the
battlefield, their ringleaders could expect to be hanged as
traitors.

"They signed anyway, thereby stating to the world that there is
something worth more than life, and that is liberty. Thanks to
their courage, we do not have to risk death to preserve the
liberties they bequeathed us. All we have to do is vote."


-- Barbara Ehrenreich, in an op/ed "Their George and Ours"