In his second paragraph, he said.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

So firm was the vision of America's founding fathers that this statement represented their collective belief that the twenty-eight signatories accepted it without any change in wording.

Could the same be said today? Do Americans possess a collective belief today?

Do Americans perceive the word "rights" collectively? How about "liberty?" Would a random sampling of Americans generate the same definition of such words?

Or, considering that most Americans who are unable to answer such simple questions as, "What state is New Your City in," how many Americans would respond to a request to define these words with no more than a blank stare?

But why should this be?

Only a generation or two ago, Americans enjoyed educational standards that were exemplary in the world. Yet, today, it's universally accepted that Americans have been dramatically "dumbed-down" to such an extent that a majority of high school graduates are not even proficient in simple math and grammar skills.

More worrisome is the fact that the basic beliefs of Americans have been transformed from relative certainty to being both arbitrary and confused.