Today is the 4th of July. It’s the celebration of the American Declaration of independence, which was signed on this date in 1776. There’s no question that document—inspired as it was by ideas from the Stoics—was an essential one. As we have talked about before, it asserted man’s inalienable rights and began a great experiment in human liberty and equality under the law that was, and continues to be, unparalleled in history. 

But it is important that today, and on all days, we do not mistake July 4th or the Declaration’s signing as the accomplishment we should be celebrating. As Theodore Roosevelt would say, that while “in name we had the Declaration of Independence in 1776… we gave the lie by our acts to the words of the Declaration of Independence until 1865; and words count for nothing except in so far as they represent acts.” 

The sad reality is that although in fighting the Civil War, America moved closer to the truth of its founding promise—so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”—and then passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, for too many decades decisive acts almost never followed inspiring words. America again moved closer to truth with the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and other legislation since, but still we remain, as ever, with work to be done. 

Epictetus said that it’s impossible to be perfect and, of course, America is far from perfect, just as the Rome that enslaved Epictetus was not perfect. Still, he said, it is possible to be a person (or a country) striving toward perfection. We can continue working, we can continue fighting, we can continue struggling and striving to turn the ideas in the Declaration of Independence into a reality. To speak Thomas Jefferson’s beautiful words into action. 

That’s what philosophy is. That’s what politics are supposed to be. It’s about living and embodying the ideas we hold in common and making them into real, tangible policy. 

The 4th of July is not a celebration of hotdogs and BBQs, it’s a celebration of a process—of a continued passing of torches—that should make it impossible for young men to be gunned down in the street by racists who do not fear being held accountable by the law. 

It’s a celebration of a commitment to demand officers of a government who respect the rights of their people (because the people have allowed the government to exist) and recoil at the horror of a police officer kneeling on a begging man’s neck until he dies in full view of the cameras.

It’s a celebration of a commitment to kindness and generosity that lifts others up, that makes something as basic as wearing a mask to shield the vulnerable from deadly germs seem like an honorable obligation to decency rather than a rage-inducing infringement of civil liberties. 

It’s a celebration of a country where leaders call their people to be better rather than indulge their worst instincts; where doing the right thing should always trump re-election concerns and party lines. 

Recent events—and indeed decades of history—show us that there is still much work to be done. 

They are unignorable indicators, like coordinates on a nautical map, that we have become unmoored and drifted from our philosophy. We have talked more than we have acted. Theodore Roosevelt was not wrong when he called that lying. 

So let today be a celebration of recommitment. A rededication to truth, to work. Because the work must continue if this great experiment, first founded some 244 years ago to the day, is to continue as it should. As it must.

P.S. This was originally sent on July 4, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.