Colonists, Loyalists, Ice Cream and Potato Salad

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
- from the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, declaring Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain. At the time the Declaration was issued, the American colonies were "united" in rebelling against British rule. Over the next few years, The United States evolved out of the 13 original colonies.
The preamble (quoted from above) is what most of us think of regarding The Declaration. We may have read the next section, The Indictment, in high school. But I know myself that I was passing notes to my friends during the lecture, and didn't do the reading. The Indictment section is very specific. It outlines the king's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the colonists' rights and liberties. Among these:

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"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."
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"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power."
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"He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries."
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"For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments."

The 18th century patriots we celebrate on July 4, are those who refused to accept these (and other) unreasonable acts of the British kingdom. Today, it seems like "patriots" are those who will defend to the death the new king's rights to impose those old (and some new) unreasonable acts. "Activists", "renegade judges", and "extremists" on both the right and the left are today, what patriots were yesterday. The Patriots of today would have been called "loyalists", or "kings's men" in 1777. There's nothing wrong with being loyal, but there's also nothing wrong with rocking the boat when the boat needs rocked. Activists from Martin Luther King to Cindy Sheehan, and even to the (peaceful) right to lifers have, not only a right to assert their positions, petition their government, and insist it "stay the course" of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for us all; they have a legacy that empowers them to do so.

My memories of July 4th include Red Devil fireworks, making ice cream on the driveway, my mother's potato salad, a day that lasted way into the night, and burning my bare foot once on a sparkler. I had to get a lot older before I began worrying about things like our seas and coasts being ravaged, our president ignoring over 750 laws enacted since he took office, a witch-hunt on "renegade" judges who dare to break with the administration, our valuable laws being abolished, or the fact that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not really for everyone. This July 4th, I want my beloved niece and nephew to eat ice cream, have fireworks, run around late into the night enjoying their lives, their freedom, their family, and their country. And, when they grow up, I want them to keep right on living in that happy safety - whether they turn out to be middle-of-the-road, conservative, Christians - or dark green, gay, Muslims, who would wear only organic hemp, except for the fact that they're nudists. But it won't happen. Apparently, there's always somebody who wants to limit somebody else's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, in the supposed defense of their own, and in the name of "traditional values". That's the thing. Those people parade around in the red, white and blue costume of patriotism - all the while protecting the status quo from whoever it happens to be popular to exclude at the time. Let's give those excluded, marginalized, isolated others who constantly have to petition and protest, complain and insist, refuse to accept lesser rights than everybody else a new name, rooted in our historical legacy. Lets call them colonists.