I am not the government. I am not the state. I am not capitalism.

I am the 99%.

Constitution Café is simply a space for ordinary citizens to engage in the extraordinary act of rewriting our Constitution. It’s a natural outgrowth of Phillips’ popular Socrates Café, a forum (or, rather, hundreds of forums, around the country) for ordinary folks to talk philosophy. But Constitution Café is more: Constitution Café is a call to arms, a real vehicle for real change in our constitutional system. Thus Phillips takes us on a journey around the country to meet with groups ranging from a sixth grade class to a Tea Party affiliate to engage with, discuss, and wrestle over the Constitution—and ultimately to change it for our times.

The United States of America has a responsibility to live up to its own legacy of ideals. Those ideals are equality, life, happiness, freedom and liberty for all Americans, by birth, naturalized, oppressed or by aspiration.

When you read the Declaration of Independence, it turns out to be an indictment of King George III for various abuses of power. And those abuses of power look fairly similar to abuses of power we happily permit U.S. presidents to engage in today, either as regards the people of this nation or the people of territories and nations that our military occupies today in a manner uncomfortably resembling Britain’s rule over the 13 colonies.

“Justice has been done,” proclaimed President Obama last night.

I beg to differ.

Justice is not simply someone getting what they deserve. “He did X, and deserved his punishment” may be a verdict and a sentence, but these two things alone are hardly justice.

Bin Laden did not face justice last night; he faced death.

There is a difference.

As the United States struggles to respond to rapidly changing conditions in Egypt, it is informative to look at the arc of US foreign policy over the past half century or so. Foggy Bottom is stuck in a fog precisely because the approach to foreign policy has not evolved sufficiently since the demise of the Cold War. US foreign policy today is just as dependent on supporting individual despotic leaders today as it was in the 1950′s and 1960′s.

Just as a reminder, here’s what some of us are celebrating today on this wonderful anniversary of our country’s founding.

As we celebrate here in the US, let’s remember that those inalienable rights are not only ours but are shared with all our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Patriotic words might lead in a good direction. Not always, but at least once.

America’s government may be the first one in the history of the world that started out with the expressly stated goal of making its citizens happy. Jefferson set out “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. Madison added “to promote the general welfare” to the six purposes of government in the Constitution’s preamble. Both believed that democracy was the system most likely to deliver on the promise of helping people live happier lives.