Reflections on an American inaugural speech – and America itself

President Barack Obama didn't wait long in his second inaugural address to invoke the words of the Declaration of Independence, the bedrock of the American idea, that we have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness:

"Today, we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by his people here on Earth."

I've often thought that there are two kinds of Americans: Those who believe the declaration described a one-time event when it asserted the right of the people to alter or abolish old governments and institute a new ones, "laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such forms, as to them shall see most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

But there are also those who believe that describes an ongoing process, one that occurs in America at every election, as we make choices about the kind of country we want to be. For us, the work of making a more perfect union is a work that never ends and that will never end, so long as America endures.

The former view consigns revolutionary ideas to history, while the latter reserves it for us, now, and for generations to come. It reminds us that a revolution - if not with bullets, but with ballots and the ideas they represent - is the responsibility and the birthright of all Americans.

"But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action."

The ability to apply timeless principles anew is an indispensible part of America. It's especially true when we consider that the promise of our founding principles was betrayed by the pragmatism of the time.

Yes, our founders posited that all men are created equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights. But our Constitution didn't treat even all men equally; slaves were property until the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865; the voting franchise was not guaranteed to ex-slaves until the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870; it wasn't granted to women until the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Were our founders wrong? Were all people not created equal?

Or did we simply not recognize the full, true implications of equality until much later in our history? For centuries, humans were unaware that bacteria and viruses caused disease. Eventually, with the discovery of the microscope, we recognized a fundamental truth of the universe that had been there all along. So, too, as our society evolved, have we learned to apply our principles to new situations until finally the president of the United States could stand on an inauguration platform and embrace equality for all Americans, including gays and lesbians. These are not new rights invented, but the natural result of the evolution of our understanding of rights that were there all along.

"We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and 40 years, and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall."

As someone wrote after Sept. 11, we are not in America. America is in us. And the work that began that day in Philadelphia, endured the terrible years of Civil War, braved global conflicts pitting fascism against liberty, is as alive and well as the day our founders pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to each other. They changed the world in their day. And it's our obligation and our privilege to do the same in ours.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.