these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'

They are fine words on the face of it, but that's all they ever were. Even when they were written it was already far from self-evident that all men (notice 'men') were created equal as the Christian religion and its bigoted extremists imposed their iron will on the population. If you were a Christian child you were immediately more equal than one who was not. Also, many of the key people in the founding of America, based, they claimed, on those declared values, were slave owners.

Today, the idea that everyone is created equal, or at least continues to be so within seconds of their birth, is ludicrous. In the United States the opportunity gap is utterly obscene as we see grotesque poverty amid almost unimaginable wealth.

So let's amend that a little in the light of reality: 'All men are created equal, but we soon put a stop to that'.

Then there's the bit about people being 'endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, [and] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'.

A right to life? Some 50,000 people were killed as a result of the war that led to this very declaration and hundreds of millions have died at the hands of American troops and policies alone in the centuries that have followed. Did the more than a million Iraqi civilians so far killed by invasion and sanctions have an unalienable ('incapable of being surrendered') right to life?? Words are easy - being them is something else.

Okay, another quick re-write in the light of events:

'... all men are created equal, but we soon put a stop to that; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights and among these are Life, unless we decide otherwise.'

The reference to the unalienable right to 'Liberty' is at the heart of America's self-image and many other countries across the world, including Britain and, astonishingly, the fascist European Union. The United States is the 'Land of Liberty', the 'Land of the Free'. I know that's true because they keep telling me.

But what does freedom and liberty really mean in this context? Of course, it means the freedom to agree with the prevailing 'wisdom', the freedom to conform and the liberty to complain about the government knowing that it will make no difference. Even then, don't complain too loudly or effectively or there will be someone at the door.

People like Cindy Sheehan can't even speak out against the death of her soldier son and the manipulated war that killed him in Iraq without facing the wrath of government agencies, the armchair John Waynes and the lilly-livers in the mainstream media. The idea that the United States, or anywhere else on this planet, is a place of true freedom is just a mantraed myth designed to make the slaves believe they are free.

So:

'... all men are created equal, but we soon put a stop to that; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and among these are Life, unless we decide otherwise, and the Liberty to agree and conform.'

Now, that 'right to pursue happiness'. Well, first of all the pursuit of happiness is a mugs game because while you are pursuing something you never actually get there. It is like sitting on a carousel spending your whole life in pursuit of the horse's arse in front.

'Now you are at the end of your life, how would you sum it up?'

'I chased a horse's arse.'

What all your life?'

'Yes.'

'Did you catch it?'

'No, it was always just too far away, but I thought I was getting closer once.'

'Faster, faster ... I want to be happy ...'

Surely the 'right' to pursue happiness should relate to being happy, not forever trying to get there. Even then, most of the time people are pressured not to do what makes them happy if that is at odds with what officially constitutes being happy - a bigger house, bigger car, and, increasingly, bigger fridge. All of them are equine rear-ends in disguise.

Look at my lovely big house ...

... And my lovely big car ... latest model ...

I'm not saying that people shouldn't want or have what they desire in terms of home, car, fridge, money, whatever; but as a way to find true happiness they are illusions, false trails and white rabbits. Happiness and contentment comes from within, not from bricks and mortar or a new set of wheels. The pursuit of happiness is really the pursuit of what the system has decided should make you happy - not what actually does. Therefore:

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, but we soon put a stop to that; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, unless we decide otherwise, Liberty to agree and conform, and the pursuit of happiness, so long as we define what should make you happy.'

There, that's more like it.

But at least the American Declaration of Independence includes the word 'happiness'. Usually it is never referred to by governments, nor seen as a legitimate desire. Indeed, the entire global system is designed to deny people states of happiness and bliss because they are not good for business or control.

To keep us in line and our spirit in traction they have to maintain us in varying degrees of unhappiness. I have observed in myself and others over the years that when we say we are 'happy', it is really a state of being less unhappy than usual.

Most humans have never known happiness, only greater or lesser levels of unhappiness. I have experienced our natural state of bliss here and there and I can tell you that the word 'happiness' does not even begin to suffice. It is a 'being' where you are everything and everything is you. 'Happiness'?, blimey. That is as nothing compared to this state of Infinite Awareness, Infinite 'Is-ness'.

And it is not something you 'pursue'; it is something you are.

Those forces that manipulate this collective reality are terrified that humanity will realise that it needs to stop pursuing and start to be. The carousel analogy is appropriate here again. How can we connect and communicate with that which is still and in a no-time state while we are hurtling around at break-neck speed in frantic pursuit of everything?

'Quiiiiiik ... must dash, must run ... look at the time ... I have to be happy by twenty past three ...'