All men are created equal

Jefferson wrote in our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, "all men are created equal."  It is one of the most fundamental principles of democracy.

He did not write "all Americans", "all citizens", or even "all non-terrorists". All men means all men.  (And women too, since English lacks good neutral pronouns.)  When we distinguish between different classes of men, based on income, citizenship, religion, race, etc., and treat them by different rules, we are actually setting up a tyranny.  We may give it different names depending on who is in the position of privilege, such as oligarchy or monarchy or imperialism, but they are all forms of tyranny.

This is not a deep or mysterious concept.  It is self-evident and intuitively grasped by any poor farmer or third world factory worker.  They may not be able to put their feelings into the sophisticated words of the highly educated elite, and they may even be immune to the sophisticated smokescreen of politically correct rhetoric.  But they can look at our actions in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere, and judge for themselves whether we are spreading democracy or tyranny in the world.