A Declaration of Rights
Jul 3rd, 2008 by FrankKnotts
“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 to 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 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 throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”.
Two hundred and thirty two years ago these words were a battle cry for a people held captive by a King an ocean away. They were the foundation on which this great experiment we call Democracy was built. They were the vision of men who dared to say that freedom was a birth right endowed by their Creator, and that men should not suffer under a Government that did not reconized this.
This country was founded by men of courage and faith, who not only risked their property , but their very lives to establish a nation where the rights of the individual was the corner stone on which to build a nation, where a man could whorship as he chose, a nation where a person could practice a trade and earn a living without fear of the King’s Tax Collector stealing his hard earned wages. A nation where a man could defend himself , his family, and his property from the evil of the world , without fear of retribution.
What would the Founding Fathers think of their experiment today? Would they understand the path the Nation has taken , or would they choose to ” throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”.
In this country today , when the Government has become so top heavy that it can no longer hear the everyday cries of its people , and when it has become a government more concerned with the protection of the power it wields, than it is with the people it is intrusted to protect, then has the time come for some more radical action other than just voting for the lesser of two evils. This is a question that is not easily answered. When our Government feels no guilt as it steals more and more from the pockets of the working class , is it time to say no more ! When our leaders choose to punish the most productive among us through punitive taxes, and creates regulations designed to restrict the production of our most fundamental needs, is it not time to take to the streets in protest of the abuse of ” just powers “ derived ” from the consent of the governed”.
If we as people do nothing to rein in this run away government that seems bent on destroying this great nation , then we most hold only ourselves responsible for its destruction.
Our Founding Fathers gave us not only the right, but charged us with the duty to change that which “becomes destructive to these ends”.
Will we ignore this resposiblity because we have to take Jr. to practice, or because we have to work extra hours at work, or will we defend the true meaning of ” The Declaration of Independence”?
God Bless America.
Well said.
OK, so here goes my rant!
Frank has just described very well the tyranny of the Cheney/Bush administration, thus ruining not only the Republican brand, but the Conservative brand as well. Nixon tried to do the same thing.
It all boils down to an elitist attitude which denies the concerted wisdom of the people. We fool ourselves these days in thinking that we have a working democracy, when one branch of government, be it the Executive Branch or the US Senate, can either overly dominate or bring the workings of government to an absolute standstill, totally neglecting the business of the American people. The result turns out to be a government largely ruled by a greedy, powerful moneyed class who disdain the values that Frank has just described. A government of the people, by the people and for the people has become a meaningless, hollow image of what our founders originated.
As a nation we are on the cusp of a real, genuine crisis. And it is going to hurt a lot before we turn this around. Nevertheless, we can change if we so will, as a nation of individuals, as a nation united.
Thus so goes one man’s opinion, as I wish it were otherwise.
This, folks, is why we need change so very badly!
Unlike my friend Perry , who listed two Republican administrations, I believe this nations problems go much deeper than which political party happens to be in power.
I care not which party is in charge as my money is stolen from me to fund more socialist programs designed to grow the dependency of the people on government.
I care not which party is in the White House when bills are signed that restrict industries from being allowed to produce the goods and services we need as a nation to compete in the world market and to survive.
I do not see a difference between a Supreme Court Justice apointed by a Republican or a Democrat, when my Constitutional Rights are trampled upon.
When we allow these things to happen and then explain them away by blaming a party ,we are turning a blind eye to the real issue. What we are ignoring is that our government has grown beyond its intended purpose. It has become what it was intended to replace, but now instead of a single King we are ruled with no recourse by a political class. Instead of a royal and his court , we have a government and its underlings.
The socialist path we are on is leading us away from our history of freedom of the individual and is dooming us to the ash heap of history.
As our government continues to grow through creating more victims through over taxation and ristrictions on free enterprise and then supplying hand outs , and then hiring more people into government jobs which creates more underlings who eat the crumbs from the Kings table and then vote to keep King Government in power , then we are forging our own chains .
Perry speaks of the need for change , which for Perry is code speak for one certain candidate. But Perry my friend the problems I have illuminated will not be changed by a single candidate , can not be changed by a courte decision, should not be left to the very people in control , but should be , must be , will be done by everyday people demanding that government reflect the true wants of the governed, not merely pay lip service to the fears and childish desires of a few vocal lunatics.
The people must dare to say to the government , not only do we want cuts in the rate of increase for these redundent agencies but we want them closed completely. We want the government to stop funding untold numbers of studies to determine the migration path of some insect and then telling industries they must move their operations to protect some species of ant. We must put our people and the good of the Nation first, we must once again allow true free enterprise to flourish to go fourth and discover real sollutions to our energy problems , not through mandates but through the desire for profit which has always been the real motivation for all of the greatest inventions. We must challange the individual to stand up for themselves , not tell them it is impossible and that government will save them. We must once again believe and then show the world that The United States of America was , is and always will be the greatest and freest nation the world has ever know. We do not need , nor should we suffer a government that tells not only its own people but the world that we are some how the blame for every problem , imagined or real that exist. And we must let our enemies know that if we are attacked we will defend ourselves ” with the fury of God’s own thunder”.
I concur. As I wrote on Memorial Day, this is a bipartisan issue.
http://delawarepolitics.net/2008/05/27/sometimes-i-wonder/
It is a fine post Frank. I hope to see more of them. My schedule is getting a little tight so I am counting on you guys.
Perry or anyone,
What effect will an Obama/McCain presidency have on:
The globalization of decision making (e.g. the EU and the UN)?
1) The size and power of the federal government?
2) The dominance of ONLY TWO political parties?
3) Personal responsibility (as opposed to relying on the federal government?
4) The nationwide militarization of Police enforcement?
5) The “war on drugs” and its resultant stripping of Constitutional rights?
6) States’ rights?
7) A Supreme Court which has lost sight of “the consent of the governed?”
In terms of upholding our Constitution, both McCain and Obama will undoubtedly fail miserably. Sure, Obama will CHANGE the types of Constitutional violations but don’t be so naive or dishonest to claim that the Founding Fathers (empowered by the will of the people they represented) would approve of Obama’s vision for America.
The only way to fix the country is to return the power to the people, which I think Frank’s original post correctly picked up on. The simple fact of the matter is that the federal government is making way too many decisions which should be decided on a more local level.
There is no more accountability to the people. Biden, Carper, and Castle don’t give a damn about what Delawareans think, yet they are the ones making decisions having a huge effect on us. Sure we can write them letters (to be read and discarded by their staff) or make other useless attempts at influencing their votes, but the fact it that they are too insulated from “the people.” Even if they do listen to us, they are so outnumbered by the other states that our lives are dictated to us by people that do not live near us nor share our values.
The people in power use fear to suppress the will of the people. We are told that we must consent to allowing the federal government to control the country because otherwise (gasp): people dying of cancer could be smoking marijuana; others dying of cancer might choose to have their physicians help them end their lives; or some states might even allow two men to marry each other. These are all decisions that were intended to be made at the state level. Small states like Delaware ratified the Constitution because, at the time and in theory, protected us from being told what to do by other more populous states that do not share our values.
Although Delaware is losing its identity and becoming more and more like the amorphous blob that is NY, NJ, PA, there are plenty of states that still value the ability to tell other states to shove off because the people of that state have their own unique values and traditions.
God bless this country and people like Ron Paul and his supporters who truly understand the principals that made this country great and will again….someday when we realize that modern Republicans and Democrats are screwing the people royally to stay in power.
Apparently my #8 is on vacation
/learned something new
What bc said! Nicely done.