Declaring Freedom

Sunset over some farmland on my way home last night from dinner with some friends.
This morning I read the Declaration of Independence and spent some time in prayer thinking about what it means to me. 
Each year I am surprised and deeply grateful that such a select group of men came together to do this kind of moral reasoning.  It is sometimes called "social contract" moral reasoning.  "Consent of the governed" are the words they used in the Declaration.  Most people were convinced that kings ruled by divine right, not by the consent of the governed.  Our founders accepted the value of law, but realized that in this oppressive situation they had, not only a right, but a duty to disobey the law and break our relationship with England.  Disobedience was the right thing to do.
Most Americans even now do what might be called "law and order" moral reasoning.  They think that the only way to do the right thing is to obey the law.  If those thoughtful men gathered in Philadelphia in 1776 had insisted on doing their moral reasoning the "law and order" way, they could never have separated from England.
Their brave and enlightened action is a challenge to all of us to learn to do our moral reasoning the "social contract" way rather than the "law and order" way.  That means that we accept the value of law, but that at times to do the right thing we must disobey the law.