With the birth of a new royal heir in Great Britain, it is a good time to remind ourselves that our ancestors put everything at risk and fought a revolutionary war to cast off the idea of a “Divine Right of Kings” — the foundation of our country is no better expressed than in the very first words of the Declaration of Independence:
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.
And there you have it. God did not give Kings or Queens a “divine right” to Lord over others. God created us all as equals.
Near the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to be read on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In it, he said in part, “All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man… The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of God.”
So happy birthday to royal baby x, the newest symbol of a dynasty that has stood, for generations, for the idea some people are more equal than others.