May 2, 2012
May 2, 2012. Philadelphia. When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he created a document and message that would transcend time and space. Its words are universal, its morals unquestionable. Two and a half centuries later however, the Declaration is considered a relic of the past. Its criticism of a centuries-old king outdated. Because of that, many have wondered what a modern day Declaration of Independence might look like. What grievances would We The People include? We at Whiteout Press recently found one modern version that may just fit the bill. Here it is.
Franklin the independent, Adams the Federalist and Jefferson the Democratic-Republican. Together, each added their ideals into Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.
A New Declaration of Independence
By Jeffery Thomason
Compliments of Your Liberty
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 over spends 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, and 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, the 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 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 were 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, many 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 Americans 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 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 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 usually 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.
By Jeffery Thomason
Compliments of Your Liberty
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Thomas Jefferson
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