When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them…." Thus begins the Declaration of Independence of the US, drafted on this day in 1776.

As America celebrates another Independence Day with characteristic aplomb and gaiety, it is also timely that the nation does some soul-searching on the role it plays internationally.

Perhaps a tick box against every argument that the Declaration puts forth as “causes that” impelled it “to the separation” might serve as a good starting point.

The grand ideals of human freedom, dignity and independence that America stands for are in fact universal values, as much applicable to the people of America as to the people in northwestern Pakistan.

The success that America achieved across all sectors, no doubt, continues to be an inspiration and aspirational goal for most nations. The US has set powerful benchmarks in human development and in setting social indices that serve as templates worth emulating. As the world’s largest economy, the US still has enough financial muscle to make tangible contributions to the progress of the collective humanity.

After all, in today’s globalised world order, no nation operates as closed economies. The global financial crisis that started with the subprime bubble in America’s property market affected even clueless Vietnamese farmers due to this global inter-linkage.

Whatever be the domestic politics that takes centrestage in the US today, what the politicians must remember is that their decisions have a far-reaching impact across the world.

This impact is not simply because of America’s overwhelming strengths but also because of the global give-and-take that pervades every level of economic and social activity, the breakdown of barriers thanks to the growth in social media and the subtle shifts that the world is witnessing in its economic order towards the BRIC nations, and most notably, China.

America has played and continues to have a significant role in shaping the political dynamics of the Middle East. Along with that comes a responsibility towards the people, the need to uphold the very values that every American dreams of, based in part to the Declaration of 1776.

In the next 180 days, America will witness another landmark election. Whatever be the outcome, in the journey forward, the nation could probably relook at some of its past baggage.

If America’s ‘adversary’ of 1776 — the UK — is today the sixth largest trading partner of the nation, surely, distant places and far-flung people with no direct or indirect agenda on the US, can look forward to warmer relations built on the pillars of human value and dignity.