Equality: What does it mean?

   Raised as a Lutheran I was brought up learning Luther's Small Catechism in which a common question is raised: 

"What does this mean?" 

   Every 13 year-old boy or girl is expected to memorize large parts of the catechism and recite it word for word in a ceremony called the "examination night".  Doing so insures that future generations of Lutherans are well versed in what they believe and not be taken in my false doctrine.
 
   Maybe as Americans we need to take a page from the Lutherans and put together an American "catechism" in which our children will learn the REAL meaning of freedom, liberty, and justice. We can teach them for example what phases like "All men are created equal" really means.

   For many people our minds conger up visions of black, white, hispanic, asian people standing shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm.   We view it though a racial lens and not through a political lens thinking it only applies to ______-Americans.   Instead our founders were referring to its relationship to a KING and NOBILITY and not in regard to each other racially.   Thomas Paine penned one of the most important books up his time called: Common Sense (from where I get the title of my blog).  In this small book, Paine systematically destroys the idea of the need for a king.   He shows that both religiously and non-religiously why having a king is illogical and the idea of "royal blood lines" is utter nonsense.  His book becomes the spark behind the phrase "All men are created equal" that now emblazons our Declaration of Independence.

    Our country showed the world that people can rule themselves without the need for authoritarian ruler to dictate their lives and other countries soon followed suite.  We were established on this very principle that the same laws apply to all people ( something that was not done under British rule which allowed for the nobility to live under different rules than the commoners).   This is the EQUALITY they were speaking of when they wrote those words.  

    But many today have erased their original meaning and are trying to replace it with a more communistic for in which all people must have all things equal at all times.    We see a ruling class at work in Washington that arrogantly flaunts itself as if the rules that apply to you and me don't apply to them.   Take for example the IRS.  We are ordered to keep all of our records for 7 years (maybe even longer) to the point we almost become "hoarders" for if we don't we may face extreme penalties and even prison time.   But if the IRS loses its emails and destroys information against laws forbidding such actions, well... that's okay.   Are all men still created "equal" or are some people a little more equal than others?