OPINION: An American Visitor to Kyiv Reflects on the Fourth of July

I made my first trip to Ukraine and Kyiv last week on Constitution Day, June 28, I didn’t even know it as a date before I arrived in Kyiv. But from now on it will be on my own calendar.

On June 27, I visited the Maidan and that evening rewatched the documentary film Winter on Fire. I was inspired all over again.

I arrived home in Philadelphia this Fourth of July weekend and the connections are obvious. But being obvious does not mean we should not celebrate them and even be awed by what Free People can achieve. 

We are called to celebrate and acknowledge the struggle of Freedom. The basis of Freedom is Justice, and the instrument of Justice are Constitutions. A Constitution is not a flawless document, a doctrine, or a bible. A healthy Constitution breathes life into society. As a guarantor of the Peoples’ Rights, it must be based in morality and requires constant attention. 

Most importantly, it must derive its power from the unencumbered Will of the People which they express through democratic Government. And when a government loses the Mandate of the People it governs – revolution may follow.

So on this Fourth of July let us all consider the opening basis of that universal humanist document, the Declaration of Independence 1776. Its authors were mere mortals but their aspirational language lives on in the aftermath of the Maidan and the ongoing Battles of the Ukrainian Revolution. 

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The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.