Have Americans lived up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence?

All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.... Life? Well, depending on your personal opinion of where LIFE begins, some may argue that Roe v. Wade spat in the face of that phrase in the Declaration, and if the ideal of man's entitlement of life doesn't end at abortion, then it definitely ends with our ridiculously high crime rates and pointless wars where thousands of our people have been murdered... Liberty? My state job tells me that I can not be seen drinking in public if I want to keep my job, my state government insurace tells me if I choose to smoke or gain weight, I will have to pay extra.... Pursuit of happiness? I think it's more accurate to say that our country today is more in the pursuit of money-- so few people choose lives or careers for the joy it brings, but more for how many digits their paychecks will be...

So I say no, we have not lived up the ideals of the Constitution. These statements are not necessarily my personal opinons, just my perception of the U.S. current situation.

It has gotten progressively worse and worse, depute advances in some areas until recent years. The real problem is the Bush administration has taken away SO many rights guaranteed BUY the constitution and expressed in the the declaration. The Patriot Act is a main cause of this, and congress did not Even read the ten thousand pages IT was given and the bill was passed in three days. Only a Select few congress people voted No, Joe Bi en being ONE, as was Feingold, who was vehement in not voting for something he did not get to read. He has been proven quite right.

Aslo over the pawt 8 years, literally millipons fo elegible voters were purged from voting rolls illegally by states where Republcans ruled the election boards.

Also, the 2006 final act of the last republican congress before the Democrats took over the majority in 20078 was to pass a bill which Bush signed which makes it extreme;ly ways to declare Marshall Law, which virtually wipes out the constitutional [revisions. Watch next month. There are rumors Bush will invoke that power.

The US declared independence from Great Britain because old rich white men did not want to pay taxes (boy, how things have changed!). The reality of the situation is that instead of paying Great Britain taxes it is now paid to the US, state, and local governments. As far as other points in the constitution for which there was a call for independence, it varies tremendously. However, one must understand that the Declaration of Independence is exactly that: a declaration of independence. It is not, under any circumstances, a governing document. Even though certain aspects of it were transferred over to the Constitution, we don't "legally" have the right to do other aspects of it; such as, overthrowing the government when the people no longer think it is working for them. Although, we do have this right in Political Theory.

I've always referred those who question the declaration to the last paragraph, it pretty much says it all. Your question however cannot be answered in a simple way. Kind of like the words in the old song by Kristoferson: "Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose"