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.
I 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 or to abolish it, and to institute new government, 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 has shown, 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 throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of Modern Americans; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute tyranny of the people. To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a candid world.
They have passed malum prohibitum laws turning law-abiding citizens into criminals.
They have put schemes in place to disarm the people, in the pattern of registration, confiscation, and forfeiture.
They have seized and forfeited personal and real properties with mock due process, judicial dishonesty and abuse of civil procedure.
They have violated the right to privacy and the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects by conducting unreasonable searches and seizures, often without warrants and though tenuous legal arguments.
They have shifted the burden of proof through presumptions of law whereby individuals are guilty of offenses until they can prove themselves innocent.
They have promulgated an enormous, inconsistent and incomprehensible body of laws which no one person can fully comprehend, yet have ordained the burden of obeyance on the people to be fully accountable or be subjected to sever and disparate punishments and penalties.
They have imposed dictatorial bureaucracies to harass the people with ineffective and costly recourse for redress.
They have entrapped citizens, particularly those opposing authoritarianism, and put the full weight of judicial, executive, administrative and media systems against the people.
They have attacked, terrorized, maimed, and murdered citizens behind the guise of claiming to defend and protect children, the underprivileged, the environment, national interests and public safety.
They have excessively taxed and wastefully spent.
The have economically burdened the people by giving away enormous sums of foreign aid while our own infrastructure and national treasures deteriorate.
They have systematically discouraged American businesses through burdensome bureaucracies and illogical laws, regulations and policies, thereby putting American business at a sever disadvantage in foreign competition.
They have built an irrational and destructive civil tort system that discourages economic growth and is excessive and exploitive in its awarding of damages.
They have created a limited political system whereby two political parties are favored and funded; political campaign debate and true political discourse is curtailed; and the individual’s vote has been rendered impotent.
They have imposed their agendas on a willing media and created state-run media to bolster their control and to block freedom of speech for those who oppose governmental policies.
They have denied and obstructed individuals and groups from exercising religious freedom.
They have endangered the family unit by establishing a dependent entitlement class through failed social programs and policies.
They have fostered racism by way of reverse discriminations, quota systems, and categorizations and compilations of racially based data; they hace conspired against competence and individual achievement.
They have enforced involuntary servitude through registrations, drafts, antistrike laws, and mandatory pro-bono work requirements.
They have failed to protect our borders, tempting economic ruin and public health risks.
They have compiled a standing army to police the world for dubious political purposes of little or no national interest and have utilized these forces domestically against the people.
In every stage of these oppressions Americans 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 ruler of a free people.
I, therefore, a recipient of fundamental rights, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of out of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people to whom these rights have been extended, do solemnly publish and declare that all Americans are, and of right ought to be, free and independent. All Americans should be absolved from allegiance to hypocritical, elitist, authoritarian elements of the current government. All political connection between these corrupt elements and myself are and ought to be totally dissolved. For the support of this declaration, and of the Constitution of the United States, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, I pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor.
…Ted gave a hard look at Ben’s .45 and answered for the Lieutenant: “We all know what follows a Declaration”
“The Declaration” by Evan & Louis Nappen