With the Fourth of July upon us, we should pause and reflect on the true meaning of Independence Day. In the political arena, we face daily setbacks in the name of the so-called war on terrorism. As we consider how this war is being waged, it is wise to recall our Founders’ vision.

The Founders understood that a nation based on the consent of the people deserves to be both safe and free. They believed that these are compatible, not irreconcilable, goals. But when a government ignores its people, violates their rights, and embarks on undeclared wars, its people are not free. And when that government’s conduct openly and aggressively invites retaliation, terrorism and ever-widening armed conflict, its people are not safe.

It is important and timely to note just how many of King George’s injustices and abuses that the Founders catalogued in the Declaration of Independence are confronting us today. Among other things, the King "obstructed the Administration of Justice," "made judges dependent on his Will alone" and deprived the people "of the benefits of trial by Jury."

These abuses sound chillingly like some of the things that are happening in the name of the war on terrorism: removing the judiciary from monitoring the actions of the executive branch; closing immigration hearings from public scrutiny; eavesdropping on confidential communications between attorneys and their clients; detaining citizens and noncitizens alike indefinitely, without charging them with any crimes, without affording them access to legal counsel and without presenting evidence against them at a trial by jury.

The King "affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power." How different is this from the creation – without congressional participation – of military commissions to secretly try noncitizens without affording them all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the Code of Military Justice and international law? And what about transferring suspects from the civilian criminal-justice system into indefinite military incarceration? And what about the torturing of prisoners, and the related effort – thankfully now abandoned – to gain immunity for American troops from prosecution by the International Criminal Court?

As we gather with family and friends on the Fourth of July to commemorate the Declaration of Independence, we should pause to measure just how far we have progressed toward the Founders' vision of equal rights and economic justice and how far we still have to go. And we should commit ourselves to doing what it takes to get there.

Stephen Rohde is president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and immediate past president of the ACLU of Southern California. He is the author of American Words of Freedom, which explores the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.