The Declaration of Independence: in plain language and for our own time
You’ll find this Declaration of Independence to be modeled upon the original, only in plain speech. Despite being modeled upon the original, you’ll find that the original facts, ideas, and grievances almost all fit directly to our own time with startling accuracy. What of the original conclusions, then? You decide.
Declaration of Independence
July 4, 2020
Sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do: get rid of the government you’re under and form a new one. It’s our natural and God-given right to do so. When we exercise that right, however, we should at least have the common courtesy to tell everyone else why. So here goes:
It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to figure out 1) that God created all men equal and with some rights that can’t be taken away by anyone. These include the rights to live, to be free, and to do what they want with their own lives; 2) That to protect these rights, we form governments that have the consent of the people that have to live under them; and 3) That whenever any government quits protecting these rights, the people have the further right to get rid of that government and form a new one that will protect their rights and their happiness.
Now, it’s not smart just to go changing governments for every little thing, especially when the one you already have has been around for so long. People usually put up with as much nonsense as they can before they go through the trouble of uprooting everything and starting over. But when the government keeps obviously abusing and taking away our rights, and following an obvious agenda that looks like it will lead to a dictatorship, we not only have the right, but the duty, to get rid of that government and form one that will actually secure our rights into the future.
We have suffered like this long enough. It is now necessary to change our government. The establishment has done nothing but repeatedly violate our rights and take away our freedoms, and it’s obviously on its way to a tyranny over the states and people. Just consider some of the things we have had to put up with under this government:
It won’t pass laws that we need or want, or threatens to veto them when we do.
When the states do sign laws we need and want, the federal Courts, or Congress, strike them down. Sometimes the Court ties them up and suspends them, and sometimes when we do want to Supreme Court to rule, if refuses to hear the case.
It confiscates large tracts of land under Federal jurisdiction and then rules them with unelected Federal bureaucracies, trampling and ignoring local laws, governments, and our right to be represented in the process.
It plays games with schedules and holds secret, closed-door meetings so that our representatives are either out of town, or locked out of important decisions and votes.
When it appears that someone will actually stand up to the tyranny, that person is locked out, intimidated, or marginalized in the media in order to ignore or silence all opposition.
It leaves the people and the states vulnerable to tyranny and even to mobs because their representatives are ridiculed and left powerless.
It has obstructed justice by refusing to make its judges and officers follow the same rules as everyone else.
It only appoints judges that agree with it and which it can control.
It grows the size and power of government with all kinds of new unelected bureaucrats, and sends out armed agents to harass people with all kinds of rules and regulations, and to collect taxes, fines, and fees until we have nothing left.
It maintains a standing army among us during peacetime without any declaration of war from Congress.
It has militarized both federal and local police and has made them unaccountable to local people and a threat to local freedoms.
It has even combined the President’s powers with those of Congress to override the Constitution and our state and local laws:
For maintaining huge military bases among us and forcing us to pay for them
For shielding government agents—including police, SWAT, courts, and federal agents—from punishment for offenses and even murders they should commit on the people
For interfering with our trade and markets throughout the world
For imposing all kinds of taxes, fines, and fees on us without our consent
For denying the right to trial by jury in many cases
For hauling us off to distant prisons on false charges
For abolishing common law and establishing arbitrary government throughout the courts
For overriding state Constitutions, striking down our most important laws, and manipulating our state and local governments
For replacing the role of state and local legislatures with federal laws and bureaucrats
It ignores the people when they need government, and leaves us at the mercy of its armed agents and bureaucrats
It takes everything it wants, and destroys anything that stands in its way, including people
It even lets foreign soldiers train on our soil for war against us, and would not hesitate to employ them in its destruction of our liberties, and it is already preparing for cruelties more fitting the ages of barbarism than of anything you could call civilization
It employs our own troops against us. Our own sons and daughters are prepared and conditioned to be our executioners, and to give their lives in doing so if necessary.
It has instigated riots among us, and has created class warfare that leads to violence against man, woman, and child alike, as well as the destruction of property
We have endured these oppressions for decades, and all along the way have tried patiently to use the system itself in order to fix the problems, but things have only gotten worse. It’s time we acknowledge that any government that acts this way is not fit to be the government of a free people.
It’s not for lack of trying that we arrive at this decision. We have repeatedly complained about the legislature and its failures. We have told the story of our founding fathers and our rights over and over. We have begged the officials to find justice and love in their hearts, and we have pleaded with them as brothers to stop these invasions which can only either end in tyranny or force us to act. They apparently don’t care about justice or brotherhood. And since this can only mean they prefer injustice and tyranny, we’ll have to accept the fact that they are our enemies, even if they would otherwise be our friends.
In light of all this, we can only appeal to the true Supreme Judge of the world to set things right. As representatives of a new system, we declare that we have the right to be free and independent states, and that we are so as a matter of fact. We absolve ourselves totally of all ties to the former government that has become a tyranny; it is now to us like it never even existed. As a new free government, we have the same rights as any other government: declare war, make peace, make alliances, open for commerce, and do anything any other state or nation can rightly, under God, do. And for this newly declared independence and liberty, we solely trust God Himself for our protection, and we pledge to support each other with our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.