We hold these words to be self evident...

...that all men are created equal.

Hmmm -- that's a powerful bit of rhetoric, isn't it? What the hell does it mean? Men (or people for that matter) aren't created "equal" in almost any respect, be it height, intelligence, hair color, or the propensity for finding reality television entertaining, etc.

I'm not even sure what the term "equal" means in that context. Does it mean equal under the law? That certainly wasn't the case back in the late 1700s (*cough* slavery *cough*), and it isn't the case now. People are not treated equally under the law; a lack of citizenship or prior felonies result in unequal treatment for a whole bunch of folk.

Basically, it doesn't mean much of anything, and whatever it does mean, it certainly isn't "self-evident".