Beware U.S. Documents in Spanish

Yesterday, I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased a bilingual edition of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. My purpose was to share these documents with Spanish speakers in hopes to help them understand our form of government.

I was surprised with what I found.

You remember where our Declaration of Independence declares, “...and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them...”? Well, the Spanish version, translated by the Cato Institute, decides to take God out. Instead, they substitute, “Leyes de la Naturaleza y de la Naturaleza Divina.” A literal translation of Cato's phrase is, “the laws of Nature and of Divine Nature.”

What? Not only does this translation take away the idea that our rights come from God, but it insists that somehow nature is god! This is not what our Declaration of Independence says! And that's not all. In the preamble of our Constitution, the Cato Institute substitutes the word “blessings” (bendiciónes) for the word “benefits” (beneficios). Clearly, the word “blessings” implies a Supreme Power while the word “benefits” does not.

Lastly, let's take a look at Cato's translation of one of my favorite clauses of the Declaration. Our's says, “...that whenever ANY Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government...” The Cato institute says, “que el Pueblo tiene el derecho de cambiar o abolir CUALQUIER OTRA Forma de Gobierno que tienda a destruir estos Propósitos....” The translation substitutes “any” for “cualquier otra” (any other). According to Cato, it is not our form of government that we can abolish, but another form. This is a dangerous sentiment which will lead us to serving tyranny in our own country while abolishing other people's forms of government. In the light of Mexican public opinion toward the Mexican-American war, this phrase will doubtless be interpreted as a manifest destiny to capriciously invade sovereign nations---a right our Declaration does not give us. The Cato Institute has deceptively left out two of America's foundation stones:

It changes Nature's God into Nature as a god.

It changes the idea that we can abolish ANY form of government destructive of liberty.

What is going on? Who is trying to keep the Hispanic people from understanding our TRUE form of government?

For a better version of the Declaration, see the National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/espanol/la-declaracion-de-independencia.html (It still substitutes "benefits" for "blessings" in the Constitution.)