234 years ago, 56 Patriots put their lives on the line and signed their names to the “fundamental Act of Union of these States”. Their Declaration of Independence sent shockwaves throughout the world because they declared themselves free and independent from the oppression of the King. Their courage in the face of adversity laid the groundwork that created the single greatest nation in the course of human history. The United States of America became a great nation, not because they created a great government with unlimited power and reach, but because they created a limited government with the power belonging to the people.
In a little more than two centuries, the government has grown to proportions that would make even the great King George envious. With that in mind, I thought that it might be prudent to update the original Declaration for our current times.
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 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.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — 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 of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter…it, and to select new representation, 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to vote out the career politicians, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these United States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to exchange their former Representatives. The history of the present Federal Government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
The Federal Government is attempting to limit our right to free speech simply because we question their motives and policies.
They have eroded our right to bear arms to the point of punishing the law-abiding citizens rather than the criminals.
They have placed political correctness above the free expression of Christian faith and Common Sense.
They have declared that the government knows better how to raise and educate our children than we do as their parents.
They have declared that the government can better prepare for our retirement than we can.
They have mortgaged not only our futures, but also our children and grandchildren’s futures by spending more than they collect in tax revenues and then selling our debt to communist China.
They have usurped the 10th Amendment to the Constitution time and time again by passing legislation with which the Federal Government has no role or responsibility.
They have declared themselves the final arbiters of whether we live or die based on THEIR healthcare policy.
They have completely ignored immigration laws that they have passed in order to curry political favor.
The Federal Government has filed suit against a state for passing a law that simply requires that law enforcement will abide by the current Federal Immigration Laws.
They have stood in the way of private enterprise and local and state governments attempts to stop and clean up a massive oil spill in the name of bureaucracy.
They have looked for new and secretive ways to erode our freedoms and liberties in every way conceivable.
“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. Career politicians, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define Tyrants, are unfit to be the rulers of a free people.”
“We, therefore, the people of the united States of America, … appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these United States, solemnly publish and declare, That we are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent People, that we are Absolved from all Allegiance to political parties, and that we will replace, retire, reassign any and all elected officials who have played a party to these offenses. — 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.”
