Happy New Year

Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, were said repeatedly this holiday season. Wishing all the best is a long American tradition. Under the greetings should be a realization that all people deserve a fulfilling life.

This idea will be reinforced in 2026 during the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Watching Ken Burns' "The American Revolution," series on public television, Americans learned that most signers of the Declaration didn't take the phrase, "...all men are created equal,..." as all encompassing. The greatest idea of modern history, the American Idea, needed to be made real.

America continued the Revolution, enduring a civil war and constant struggles against repeated discrimination to make the promise of the Declaration real for Americans. We are now challenged more than we have been since the 1960s civil rights era to insure all humans are treated equally, are respected, insured equal rights, and that all citizens are a part of our self-governing, representative democracy. We must rise to that challenge.

When we now say, "Happy New Year," to all we meet, we must really mean we support the American Idea of the Declaration. Let the Revolution continue.

Bill Dagnon,
Baraboo