Two hundred fifty years ago, a small group of colonists challenged the most powerful empire on Earth. They had no standing army, no navy, and no certainty of survival. What they had was conviction. “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 sentence set a standard for this nation we have spent two and a half centuries trying to live up to. The semiquincentennial gives us a chance to reflect on our standard again and ask the honest question: Are we living up to it?
At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the promise that all men are created equal did not yet reach everyone in this country. We have had to confront that gap more than once. Two hundred years ago, we enslaved people because of the color of their skin. One hundred and eight years ago, my mother, my wife, and my daughters could not vote. Eighty-five years ago, we interned Japanese American families because we were afraid of them. In each case, we eventually recognized our wrong and corrected it, though our failure had a real cost to the people who lived through it.
Our Constitution states its purpose in its opening lines: to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Posterity means future generations, Americans not yet born. The word “posterity” carries particular weight.
I believe future generations will look back at this era and ask how this generation justified ending the lives of unborn children simply because they were inconvenient.
OPINION — RETHINK PREGNANCY: ABORTION INDUSTRY SCARE TACTICS FAIL UNDER SCRUTINY
Last week marked four years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Clinic decision overturned Roe v. Wade. Since 1973, more than 60 million unborn children have lost their lives to abortion in this country. Dobbs did not settle the question of abortion. It returned that question “to the people and their elected representatives,” where it belongs. We need to still resolve as a people if we believe that all children are precious and valuable or if certain children are disposable and worthless.
As we celebrate 250 years of America and mark four years since Dobbs, we have an opportunity to return to our first principles. Our founding documents were never meant to be obstacles to progress. They are a framework for pursuing justice, one that recognizes the equal dignity of every human being, born and unborn.
James Lankford is a Republican U.S. senator representing the people of Oklahoma.