Anyone who watched the John Adams series on HBO recently witnessed Adams’ comment to Jefferson when Jefferson presented his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. Adams commented (as I remember): “Mr. Jefferson, you have not only defined the rights of Americans, but of all peoples of the world.”

The magnificence of the founder’s work will be remembered for all peoples of the world. They understood the importance of defining the relationship between “the people” and their government (regardless of which country one lived in). They also understood that America was to be the guiding light for the rest of humanity. In this regard they warned against the people of America forgetting their responsibility to keep their government in check, lest they lose their rights. They understood that “the people” could not rely upon their government to maintain the rights of the people. They knew, all too well, that power would corrupt and re-accumulate in the federal government. They also prophesied that the time would come when the people would either act to restore their rights or they would “expire in a convulsion”. We are at that time today.

It is therefore our privilege and our duty to not only ourselves, but to all of humanity, to become fully educated and to restore the blessings of liberty and constitutional “rule of law.” Future generations will look back at this time and evaluate how each of us stood up to this historical challenge.