 |
| © unknown |
A New Declaration of Independence
July 7, 2012 | SurvivalWeek.com
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. – Thomas Jefferson
When frustration and discontent make it necessary for people to
change their government and exercise their rightful power to determine
the government they want, respect for other people’s opinions requires
that they explain why they are dissatisfied with their government.
We believe these truths are self-evident. We believe that all men are
created equal. We believe they have natural rights, and that their
inherent rights cannot be taken from them. Whether people believe in a
Creator or not, we believe that these rights include Life, Liberty, and
the pursuit of Happiness. Men create governments and consent to give
them certain powers in order to protect and secure these rights for
themselves. Whenever any government jeopardizes this goal, it is the
Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new
government founded on those principles and to give it the powers they
think will best protect and serve their Safety and Happiness. Prudence
dictates that long standing governments should not be changed for
trivial or fleeting reasons, and experience has shown that people are
more likely to tolerate evil, while it is tolerable, than to change a
familiar government. But when there is a long history of abuse and
disobedience, which clearly shows a pattern of the Government
overstepping its limits and depriving citizens of their liberty and
heritage, it is their right and their duty to change their government
and provide new safeguards for their future security. Americans have
patiently suffered, and now it is time for them to restore their
government. The history of the federal Government is a history of
repeated failures, lies, and usurpations that demonstrate that it is no
longer a government of the People, by the People, and for the People.
To prove this, here are some facts for earnest people to consider:
The Government has established elaborate districts and election laws
designed to preserve the dominance of two interchangeable political
parties. With rare exceptions, all of our representatives and government
officials belong to these two political parties. Even though one-third
of Americans are politically independent and almost everyone is unhappy
with the results produced by these two parties, they maintain complete
control of our government.
The Government overspends every year, and refuses to balance its
budget. It has created debts and obligations that threaten our security
and prosperity and that will burden future generations from birth. To
support its overspending, the Government borrows extensively from
countries that may not have America’s best interest at heart and spends
today the money it promised the People it would save for tomorrow.
The Government forces the People to use false money so that it and
its friends can surreptitiously take wealth from us. It uses our wealth
to buy allegiance with countless programs operated under the guise of
fairness, progress, or safety. Baseless money is the root of
profiteering, and causes inflation that robs the very people the
Government claims to be helping.
The Government has created an indecipherable tax code that cannot be
applied fairly. It creates tax rebates and insists that we should be
grateful for its indulgence.
The Government passes legislation that will have sweeping
consequences for all Americans by cutting outrageous and obviously
unfair deals. It approves laws written by and for special interests
without reading them. The Government exempts itself from laws it
imposes on the rest of us.
The Government regulates our food, the air, water, farming,
education, energy use, healthcare, housing and homeownership, business,
industry, communications, labor, transportation, foreign policy, war and
peace, and the currency. Every year it issues volumes of complicated
new rules that often conflict with state rules, stifle competition, and
interfere with common sense, innovation, and individual freedom. It
manages with each new crisis, real or exaggerated, to expand its power.
It can imprison and take the property of anyone who fails to pay for
its services. It owns one-fifth of the land in the United States, and
has a nationwide system of courts, attorneys, police, and prisons to
enforce the law and protect its interests.
According to the President’s Web site, “There are hundreds of federal
agencies and commissions…” There are only three explanations for this
state of affairs: we are savage people that must be restrained; we are
stupid people incapable of solving our own problems; or the people who
run the Government love power.
Many of our representatives are unable or unwilling to explain in
plain English which section of the Constitution delegates to them
authority for the laws they approve, and many of them believe there are
no limits on the federal Government’s powers. The people who originally
approved the Constitution of the United States of America feared it
would lead to the same abuses they had just fought to end. They approved
the Constitution only after being assured that it gave the federal
Government limited power. The Constitution and the Founders’ thoughts
are written in plain English, and everyone may judge whether the laws
passed by the federal Government are Constitutional.
Government programs are always more expensive than originally estimated, and even failed or obsolete programs are continued.
A small number of people run the corporations and unions one day and
then run the Government the next day. They can’t be objective under
those circumstances or serve the best interests of the People. They
serve only themselves and their friends.
The Government is giving and lending the public’s money to private
companies to ensure success and profit. If the individuals running these
companies are the best and the brightest, then they should be able to
succeed on their own without favors [or safety nets] from the
Government.
The Government is bailing out other countries, and the central bank does not have to show the public how it uses our money.
The Government enters into treaties, contracts, and relationships
with foreign entities, and relinquishes authority to international
bodies, undermining America’s sovereignty.
The Government has ruled that it can take private land from one owner
and give it to another private owner if it prefers the new owner’s
plans for the property.
The Government won’t allow dying people to smoke marijuana, but it says you are free to choose an abortion.
The Government’s current prohibition is fueling lawlessness and
disorder, here and abroad, just like the last prohibition did. Despite
the mayhem and the humiliation it causes, the Government persists in
trying to control foolish and unhealthy behavior by jailing scores of
otherwise innocent citizens. Its approach has given the land of the
free the world’s largest prison population.
We no longer have orderly Militias, but we have many laws that
infringe on our right to keep and bear arms for our own security.
History’s greatest atrocities were committed by armed governments, not
armed citizens.
The Government spends billions of dollars each year to secure the
homeland, yet half the time ordinary citizens stop the terrorists. It
is advising Americans to spy on each other. Its agents violate the
rights of travelers daily, and assault children, the sick, and the
dying. The Government’s money and influence is gradually transforming
the police from an institution that serves and protects our communities
into an apparatus capable of controlling us.
The Government’s military spending, not including the current wars,
is equal to the military spending of the rest of the world combined.
Why? We have oceans on either side of us, a mostly unpopulated
wilderness to the north, a nation to the south barely able to defend
itself against criminal gangs, and millions of people who love freedom.
The Government has given us a War on Terror, a War on Drugs, and a War on Poverty. None of these wars have ever won.
The Government has failed to secure our borders and points of entry,
one of its Constitutional duties, despite the fact that its officials
promised to faithfully execute the law, despite the fact that most
Americans want secure borders, and despite the fact that other nations
secure their borders.
The Government tells us that millions of Americans need help, and it
has numerous programs to provide them the necessities of life. It does
this at the same time that billions of dollars are spent every month to
employ people overseas and millions of people, often at great personal
risk, come here legally and illegally. Most of the people who come here
find work and shelter, raise their families, and are grateful for the
opportunities and freedom denied them in their own lands.
Those that come here illegally are often swindled and abused, live in
deplorable conditions and fear, and never become American citizens or
even assimilate like our grandparents did. Those that come here legally
are often subjected to delays and bureaucratic absurdities while trying
to become Americans. The Government is planning to sweep this under the
rug again by “re-forming” the law.
More than a few of the people indiscriminately entering our country
are vicious criminals bent on robbery, murder, or the destruction of our
nation. The Government has chosen to forsake the American People’s
security, and instead devotes its energy to proving its own supremacy.
The Government has given itself the power to watch us and listen to
us without independent judicial approval. It is developing new methods
to monitor, track, and examine people without probable cause.
The Government meddles in the internal affairs of other countries,
and recently used surrogates and secret prisons to do things that
legally can’t be done here. History shows that this hypocritical
behavior only creates problems. A good reputation and friendship are
just as important as security and freedom.
The Government is indefinitely holding people without charges and
without trial, and has identified American citizens, who have not been
charged or convicted of any crime, for assassination. The President has
been given the power to declare Americans outlaws, depriving them of
their rights. These are the practices of dictators and kings, not a
nation of laws.
The Government now fights undeclared wars. If we find it necessary to
defend ourselves, then Congress should have the integrity and courage
to declare war as required by the Constitution.
The Government has given itself the authority to wage war at any time
and in any place. Unfettered authority appears to have resulted in
unending war. This will enrich arms suppliers, but will surely lead to
our nation’s downfall.
It took America three and a half years to defeat the Nazis and the
Japanese empire. The Government has been at war now for the past ten
years. All it has to show for it are the heads of a few ruffians on
pikes, a mountain of debt, the wounded souls and maimed bodies of our
countrymen, and everyone’s suspicion that AMERICA no longer exists.
The Government trumpets virtue and decency and sacrifice to the
People while pursuing power and decadence and corruption for itself and
its friends.
For many years, we have forewarned the Government of the problems
associated with its growth, only to be told that we need still more
Government. A government that continuously grabs power and begins to
take on the characteristics that define a tyranny is not fit to be the
government of a free people.
Nor have we ignored our fellow citizens. We have warned them of the
dangers of this creeping intrusion into our lives and of the
accumulation of power. We have reminded them why people came here and
the circumstances under which this nation was created. We have appealed
to their sense of fairness and open-mindedness, and have appealed to our
common interest to reject these efforts which inevitably will undermine
our connections and mutual trust. They have turned a deaf ear to the
voice of reason and kinship, and our efforts have often been met with
accusations of heartlessness and bigotry, or the insinuation that we
should be silent because our words might incite violence. Freedom is a
blessing, and thugs and lunatics don’t need provocation – only tyrants
fear dissent. Despite all that, we consider all sincere Americans
friends.
Therefore, the people of the United States of America, proclaiming
our best intentions to the Supreme Judge of the world, do solemnly
publish and declare, that we are disgusted with the federal Government’s
illegal use of powers not given to it by the Constitution, by the
States, or by the People. Five-hundred forty-five people in Washington
cannot make 310 million people happy and secure; only vanity or hunger
for power explain why you try. We want a government that honors the
Republic, not power, privilege, and self-interest. We want a government
that is financially responsible. We want sound money. We want the
Government to stop redistributing our wealth under the pretext of trying
to make life fair. We know you just like the power and the adulation
that come from giving away what others have earned, but remember –
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We
want you to secure our borders and defend our nation. We want the
Government to stop trying to solve all the world’s problems; we have
enough here. We want you to stop building an empire; empires end in
ruins. We want you to bring our men and women home – now! We want you to
abide by the Constitution. It was designed to limit what you may do.
Anything more is a violation of the Constitution and a threat to our
Liberty. We expect you to return to their rightful owners – the PEOPLE –
the freedoms you and your predecessors have stolen. If you don’t, then
we will take them back.