What does the above quote mean? Well first off, all men (and women) are created equal, and we have certain rights that cannot be taken away. These chief rights are life (don't murder people), liberty (freedoms), and the pursuit of happiness (try to be happy, but not at the expense of other people). This was an adaptation from the writings of the enlightenment thinker John Locke.
The second part is the important stuff. "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed". We elect officials to enact laws, and protect our rights. They do so with our permission. This means if they displease us, we can vote them out. We vote for politicians because we have what is called a Federalist Republic. For those of you who don't know, that means we vote for representatives who are supposed to run the government for us. Our founding fathers realized the direct democracy (a democracy where all citizens vote on everything), would not work in a very large country, where most of the people were uneducated.
Chris Christie has proposed that we should have left the issues of Civil Rights up to the people to decide, but the fact of the matter is our founding fathers created a government where the people do not get a direct say. It's a lot of trouble getting everyone to vote on every matter. It is also very expensive, and no one would have the time to do their actual jobs.
On top of that, the states left the Federal Government no choice but to take action during the 1960s. The Supreme Court ordered the integration of schools in 1954. None of the segregated states took any action until Congress passed laws and the Executive Branch forced the states to enforce them. His idea that the people of Jersey should decide laws pertaining to Civil Rights is just wrong. Our government simply wasn't built that way. Also, "all people are created equal" means all people, not just straight people.
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