by Ron Whitehead
“Give me liberty or give me death.”
–Patrick Henry
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
–The Bill of Rights, 1st Amendment
“Pray for the dead; fight like hell for the living.”
–Mother Jones
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 humankind requires that they
declare the causes which impel
them to separation. We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that ALL
people ALL people, not just property
owners not just the wealthy not just
the military not just the power-elite,
ALL People are created equal, that they
are endowed with certain Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty,
and the pursuit of Happiness, –
that to secure these rights,
Governments derive their powers
from the consent of the governed, –
That whenever Government becomes
destructive 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 effect the Safety and Happiness
of the people it represents. Governments
long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes; and
experience shows that humankind is
more disposed to suffer than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a Long Train A Long Train of
abuses continues to reduce them under
Absolute Despotism it is Their Right it is
Their Duty to throw off such Government
and to provide new Guards for future
security. – Such has been our patient
sufferance and such is now the necessity
which constrains us to alter our Systems
of Government. The history of the present
U.S. Government is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over us. To prove this, let Facts
be submitted to an Awake World:
Government has called together legislative bodies
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
for the sole purpose of fatiguing us into compliance.
Government has made Judges and Legislators and
Presidents dependent on its Will alone for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their
salaries.
Government, the largest employer in these so-called
UNITED States, continues to erect a multitude of New
Offices, and send swarms of Bureaucrats and Police to
harass us and EAT OUT our substance.
Government has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies and Larger and Larger and More and
More Violent Police Forces without our Consent.
Government has affected to render the Military and
The Police Independent of and superior to the Civil
power to the Wishes and The Will of The People.
Government has joined with The Police and The Military
to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws giving Assent to their
Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops and police
among us:
For protecting those same troops and police, by mock
Trials, from punishment for any Murders and Brutality
which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by
Jury, even if that Jury be rigged:
For trying us for pretended offenses,
including running from The Police,
whether we’re running from the Police or not,
For waging War against us.
Government has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
Government is at this time completing works of death,
desolation and tyranny already begun with circumstances
of Cruelty and Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of any so-called
civilized nation.
The First discovery in determining whether a nation and
its government is civilized or not is to find out
how that nation
and its government cares for those who can’t care for
themselves. Does the U.S. Government take care of
those who can’t take care of themselves?
In every stage of the Oppressions We
have Petitioned for Redress in the most
humble terms: Our repeated Petitions
have been answered only by repeated
injury. A Government whose character
is thus marked by every act which may
define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler
of a free people. We, therefore, the people
of the land called The United States of
America, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the world for the rectitude of
our intentions, do solemnly publish and
declare that we are and of Right ought
to be Free and Independent; that we are
Absolved from all Allegiance to the United
States Government and that all political
connection between us and the United
States Government is and ought to be
totally dissolved and that as Free and
Independent people we have full Power
to conclude Peace, contract Alliances,
establish Commerce, aid in every conceivable
way to help HEAL THE EARTH, in ALL
aspects of its Being, including ALL
Human, Plant, and Animal Life recognizing
The interconnectedness of ALL Life and
that only through non-violent Cooperative
concerted Efforts and Open Discourse
amongst ALL Peoples can any semblance
of Peace, Justice, and Harmony ever be achieved
recognizing also that only through Tolerance and
Empathy, allowing others to live their lives according
to their traditions and desire while simultaneously
attempting to place ourselves into the other person’s
shoes, imagining and feeling what life might be like
for them, and to do all other Acts and Things which
Independent People may of right do. And for the
support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on
the protection of divine Providence, we mutually
pledge allegiance to Each Other Our Lives, Our
Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor.
Copyright (c) 2003 & 2014 Ron Whitehead