Freedom is never free.....

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."-Samuel Adams

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The New (Old) Declaration of Independence

"But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution."

--John Adams, letter to H. Niles, 13 February 1818

The American Revolution was as much a state of mind as it was a military conflict. This revolutionary attitude was conveyed quite succinctly in The Declaration of Independence as grievances against the Crown were addressed. The authors were quite clear and left nothing to chance as this historic document was written. With a few subtle edits, this document could be sent to Washington today, and be as relevant as it was 233 years ago. What if......?


When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”


“Political bonds” should read “political bondage”. As our Federal system decides, by executive authority to seize private entities on the basis of “Recovery”, we climb higher and higher on the slippery slope.


“....That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”


I’ll keep this portion verbatim. The right of each sovereign state to determine its own destiny is all but gone.


“He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.”


The Supreme Court has morphed into the last word as an extension of the Oval Office. The Court is nothing more than an expediter of political agendas as opposed to an unbiased interpreter of the U.S. Constitution. This body will continue to siphon away the rights and guarantees as succinctly outlined in the aforementioned document.


For imposing taxes on us without our consent...”


Just look at your phone bill, or cable bill, or liquor, cigarettes, gasoline, electricity, pay stub, etc. “Our consent” falls into the hands of our elected officials, which, in theory, are the basis of a “Republic”. The Founders didn’t count on lobbyists to line the pockets of our congressional representatives.


For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments...”


This is a big one. The very basis and foundation of our form of government has been usurped by power and greed, with very little emphasis on what is best for the masses. While on the surface, our system functions in its original form, but we must only have to scratch the surface to reveal the cancerous underbelly of the system which doesn’t reflect the original intentions of the Founders.


“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”


Substitute “Indian savages” with “ACORN”.


“A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”


Our current resident of the White House, who has been referred to as “The Messiah”, has no business sitting in the chair that oversees the free world, because tyrants and egomaniacs care nothing about freedom, and free people get in the way of personal agendas (see Supreme Court).


“We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”


I’ll keep the “United States of America”. This great moniker has been replaced by the “United Socialist States of America” (see the Late, Great U.S.S.A. posted below). We’ll replace “British Crown” and “Great Britain” with “U.S.S.A.” I’ll keep the balance of the above summary as is.

Article I, Section 10 would consider this an act of treason, unless each state acted independently, for Section 10 forbids any alliance or confederation between states. We’ll take our chances. The system is broken, and one little act of perceived treason shouldn’t keep us awake at night. After all, Jefferson Davis and his associates got a pass after the War Between the States.

Not to digress, but the fact that is has been done before, and despite the 700,000 or so deaths recorded during this conflict does little to assure me that it couldn’t happen again. This would be the worst of all scenarios, because war as a tool for conflict resolution really has not worked since WWII.

There are those who believe the issue of states rights became a dead issue after of the U.S. Civil War. While the abolition of slavery was absolutely the right and moral thing to do, the whole concept of state sovereignty was only hidden from public view.

As the libertarian philosophy experiences increased exposure, the ranks of the Democratic Party and the GOP have dropped. “Independents” comprise a larger portion of the voting populace than either of the two main parties. Let’s take that enormous body of “undecideds”, give them a bonafide and qualified reason to support a new/old political philosophy which is all about personal freedom through personal responsibility so I don’t have to send the edited version of the Declaration. We, as a body, can declare our Independence through the ballot box. Last time, we got what we asked for. There is still time to take it back.


‘What if politicians were all good guys
Oh Lord don’t we wish they were
We would not be so dependent
On courts of laws that make us all feel like defendants sometimes
If we want freedom we’ve got to amend it
On our way down
There’s nobody left to crown”.

-Richie Havens from Nobody Left to Crown

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