[rlmorel]

"What was its purpose again?? (the phrase: "All men are created equal" seems to be about the only thing most people know about the document, and yet those words could have been left completely out of it without changing it's purpose...)

Actually, I have to disagree with you in one way.

I view it as fundamental.

But I agree with you in another way, that it is problematic in that it should have specifically said:

"All Men are created Equal Under the Law

That single oversight has been the flawed intellectual interpretation for many evils we see today, so in a way, I agree with you.

"Under the Law" is clearly what the Founders meant, because only an idiot would make the statement "All men are created equal" when clearly, even to the densest intellect, it is easy to see that all men are NOT created equally.

But in this Republic, we should all be equal in the eyes of the law.

Obviously (and I can see that you recognize that as well) the Left has leveraged that to cause all forms of mischief.

[DiogenesLamp]

My point was that it was the Declaration of *INDEPENDENCE*, not the Declaration of equality.

July 4, 1776 was about justifying our separation from England. It was not meant to be a commentary on the unfairness of the world.

That is all it is remembered for now.

[GingisK]

The Founders meant “In the eyes of God”, not “under the law”.