Is the failure to live up to a stated ideal any good reason to abandon that ideal? I don't think so. While I fully recognize the innumerable pathologies of our nation ( broadly analogous to the pathologies of pretty much all other nation states), I categorically reject the idea that the problem lies in the "utopian" vision as stated in the Declaration of Independence. It lies, rather, in the perversion of, or even abandonment of that vision by privileged classes (i.e. white, male, landed, slaveholders, and later, corporate and political elites) whose actions and policies have utterly abandoned any ideal of human freedom from want and oppresstion, guaranteed intellectual freedom, equality of opportunity, free public education for all, or any guaranteed right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the "securing" of which was proclaimed to be the sole legitimate function of government. The problem lies in our utter failure to live up to the ideal of government in the public interest--not in the ideals themselves.