Remembering What the Declaration of Independence is Not

American Thinker ^ | July 03, 2009 | Bruce Walker

[neverdem]

When we celebrate the Fourth of July, we are celebrating one of the most important political documents in the history of the world.  The Declaration is a statement to the world -- the people of the world was the audience -- about the very nature of government and its relationship to men.  Sometimes we appreciate what this document was, but perhaps we need even more to appreciate what it was not.

It was not a poll-driven summation of current opinion.  The men who gathered in Philadelphia did respect each other's talents and knowledge, but the document they signed was not not driven by the latest Gallup or Zogby poll results.  What was right and true was not dependent upon popular opinion.

The signers did not even seek a vote of the people.  No referendum was necessary for the Declaration of Independence and it might well have failed in some of the colonies.  The "will of the people," so precious to demagogues, did not determine what was right and true.  The people can fall for Hitler, adore Obama, and be enchanted by silly or wicked men.  The purpose of government, as the Declaration clearly states, is to secure liberty and not to implement that dubious, inconstant sentiment "the will of the people."

The men who signed the Declaration of Independence represented the absolute opposite of "interest group politics" so slavishly worshipped in political science departments.  They pledged their lives, their wealth, their liberty, and their honor -- everything -- on a toss of the dice.  Often, even if the revolution won, these men personally lost.  The game was not about them, their economic interest, or their political ambition.  They won if America became a new order of liberty in the world.  Interest politics would have led them all to make peace with the Crown.  Moral principles led them to what Churchill would later call "blood, toil, sweat, and tears."

The brave men in Philadelphia were engaging in unconstitutional action.  Britain had a constitution, albeit a largely unwritten one, and Jefferson knew that he was defying our equivalent of the Supreme Court.  He and his colleagues defied the moral power of a system which no longer treasured liberty above advantage or caprice.  Rulers making decisions which did not really affect them, living thousands of miles from their subjects, lacked the moral authority to wield law.

Moral authority was the heart of the Declaration as well.  It lacked a separation of church and state and instead there was a unity of God and government.  All men were created equal by God.  That is the foundational point of the Declaration from which all else flows like the spring of liberty.   If all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, politics is clear and simple.  If that is true, then -- of course! -- protecting these inalienable rights is the only reason that governments are instituted among men.  These were truths which, in the magical pen of Jefferson, the brave authors and signers held to be "self-evident."  There is a Creator.  He made us.  He made us, specifically, free in body and in conscience.   We are not sheep or some sort of oddly self-domesticated animals.  We are creatures in the image of a Creator, unique in reality, and given the power to choose. 

The men who wrote and signed the Declaration are all dead, long, long, dead -- they never expected otherwise.  If we met their ghosts today, they would not ask about our technological marvels or our global economy or our medical breakthroughs or space travel.  If we told them about our partisan debates or the new King in Washington, they might cringe like a father over an addled child. 

But when speaking of what they wrote in 1776 -- signing their own death warrants, in some respects -- they might ask us this:  "We did not mean to confuse you.  That is why the words we chose were so clear.  You are free creatures of God.  Government is your creature, your chattel, your tool -- nothing more.  We studied history long before we wrote our brief statement of liberty.  You own government or rather the spirit of free men owns government.   You fret about ‘stuff.' Why?  We are all dead now, as we knew we would be.  But we chose to die free, following our consciences - that is the only real choice in life.  What confused you?"   The principle of liberty is easy.  All it requires is courage and honor.

Bruce Walker is the author of two books:  Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie, and his recently published book, The Swastika against the Cross: The Nazi War on Christianity.

[neverdem]

I thought the title is odd. I remember the Declaration of Independence as a truly beautiful description of a long list of tyrranical abuses of the people that invoked the Creator in one way or another four times. For that long list of tyrranical abuses of the people, they told George III to get lost.

[Bryanw92]

I think the title refers to the common misconception that July 4, 1776 is the day we were “given” our independence and the DoI is just some title deed to the continent or something.

Most people don’t realize that it was an act of treason, with a handful of influential men with everything to lose thumbing their noses at the most powerful man in the world and their own nation. The list of abuses contained the document are the reason for their treason and the rest is the declaration of why their treason is morally correct.

It was an act of bravery that few modern Americans would dare (including too many Freepers who are afraid to say things due to a fear of getting on a “list”).

[neverdem]

Did someone say treason?

The Declaration of Independence

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.

You can't beat that for a final sentence.

[Tennessee Nana]

My direct ancestors were Loyalists...

FOUR of them...and maybe a 5th...

The war happened upon their PA farms and NY trading post...

All burnt..and them POWs or driven off...

[Technogeeb]

The list of abuses contained the document are the reason for their treason

A reason for the treason. Hmm; that's catchy.

Not that we're really ready for a revolution just quite yet. I mean, look at what the Founders had to put up with before they rebelled. Insanely high tax rates that were sometimes even higher than a percent. A bureaucracy of government officials that constantly hassled the citizenry with tens of new regulations every couple of years. So many government officers that you'd run into one trying to regulate your life at least once or twice every year. Restricting interstate commerce. Subjecting people to jurisdictions foreign to the Constitution.

Still, "A Reason for the Treason" just seems to roll off the tongue. Maybe we just keep that phrase in mind if things get as bad as they were for the Founders..

[Lexinom]

bttt

[Bryanw92]

I used to keep a checklist of items in the DoI that were true during the Clinton administration. It was more than half. I’m afraid to pull the list out and see how many abuses the Obama admin has added.

I think that even King George would agree that its time for a revolution now!

[OneWingedShark]

I used to keep a checklist of items in the DoI that were true during the Clinton administration. It was more than half. I’m afraid to pull the list out and see how many abuses the Obama admin has added.

I think that even King George would agree that its time for a revolution now!

---

I started on a checklist, I'm not finished... but here's what I got so far:
Feel free to make suggestions.

---

The Declaration of Independence lists a multitude of charges against their Government, under the leadership of King George III which bear an eerie similarity to the offenses that our own Government is perpetrating:

•          He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

            •          Our own political lords refuse to pay their own owed taxes, take bribes, and corrupt the dignity of their office by squandering their charge.

•          He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

            •          Our government has done the opposite, passing laws in the guise “of pressing urgency” which are unnecessary, undesirable, and forced on us.

                        •          The $700 Billion “stimulus” Bill.    ≈03 Oct 08

                        •          The “Porkulus” Spending Bill.       ≈25 Feb 09

                        •          $410 billion government fund.      ≈10 Mar 09

                        •          The Cap & Trade Bill (needs to pass the House of Representatives)

•          He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

            •          The buying of, and representing for votes, by so called welfare, urban renewal, and “social” programs.

            •          Our Executive and Judicial branches have refused to efficiently investigate and prosecute:

                        •          The multi-state, numerous allegations of voter registration frauds perpetrated by ACORN.

                        •          The reports of county clerks tampering with the ballots from an election.

                        •          The numerous reports of delaying or destroying of mailed ballots.

                        •          The numerous reports of military votes being disallowed.

                        •          The Treason committed by Rep John Murtha

                        •          The involvement of the Congress in the housing bubble.

•          He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

            •          The bureaucracy which is the Government is uncomfortable, and makes the information, Public Records, regulations, and forms (with corresponding authorizing signatures) it requires unusual, uncomfortable, and unnavigable.

            •          Also, the litanies of the Judiciary and its endless appeals and reviews when the Government is the accused are designed to fatigue the people, in direct opposition to the Right to a Speedy and Just Trial.

•          He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

            •          The government dissolved its accountability to the People with its dissolution of the powers of the Grand Jury:

If It's Not a Runaway, It's Not a Real Grand Jury

            •          The State Government’s defrauding of the people in regards to eminent domain:         Example: Florida, amended the state constitution to ‘limit’ the use of eminent domain to having to pass a 3/5^TH vote to be used to give properties to another private entity… despite being flatly forbidden under their constitution prior to the amendment.

                        Defraud – verb (used with object)

To deprive of a right, money, or property by fraud: Dishonest employees defrauded the firm of millions of dollars.

•          He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

•          He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

            •          Our Executive branch has consistently declined to enforce and prosecute those immigrations laws which it deems to be trivial, thereby giving consent to numerous and repeated infractions regarding immigration law.

            •          Our Legislative branch has repeatedly suggested that the criminals breaking our immigration law be given free exercise to do so, and to be rewarded with citizenship, in the form of “amnesty.”

•          He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

            •          Our Judiciary Powers have refused to administer Justice equitably:

                        •          The refusal of the USSC to hear the GM bondholders claim.

                        •          The refusal of the USSC to hear the various claims against Pr Obama’s eligibility.

                        •          The 20Jun05 decision of the USSC to allow theft and larceny under the approval/’legitimacy’ of “Immanent Domain.”

•          He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

            •          The judges have made the Rights of the People dependant on their wills, instead of on the Law.

•          He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

            •          There are over 550 Government Agencies and Departments listed.

•          He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

            •          The Congress has kept, in times of peace, a standing and regular army despite it’s contra-Constitutionality.

•          He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

            •          The Government, civil powers, have rendered itself independent of the People; superior to accountability; and beyond all accountability:

                        •          Refusal to disclose the recipients of the $700 Billion ‘bailout’.

                        •          Refusal to disclose the beneficiaries & trustees of the Federal Reserve, a private company which operates under colors of law and office.

                        •          Refusal of law enforcement officers to themselves follow the law.

                        •          Refusal of law enforcement officers to hold politicians to the standard of the law.

•          He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

            •          The collusion between government officials and”Special Interest Groups” to increase the wealth and status of those abusing their Powers of Office.

            •          The Fear-mongering and fraudulent implications whereby the government expands its powers at the expense of the Rights of the People.

•          For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

•          For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

            •          For protecting those lawbreakers of congress, either in their failure to be punished despite solid evidence of their misconduct and corruption, or a mock trial with punishments far lighter than what one of the People would be given in the same situation.

•          For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

            •          For destroying our industries with excessive taxation and onerous regulation.

•          For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

            •          For imposing numerous and onerous Taxes on us without our Consent:

•          For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

            •          When was the last time you were tried by jury for a traffic violation, or for a “Codes Violation”?

•          For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

            •          For denying Justice to the poor, and favoring those with power, money, or fame.

•          For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

            •          For enacting legislation limiting the Rights of the People to:

•          For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

•          For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

•          He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

•          He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

•          He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

•          He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

•          He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

[Bryanw92]

>>He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

This one cracks me up. Can you imagine our Congress doing anything with “manly firmness”?

On second thought, that’s exactly what Congress does to the taxpayers, isn’t it?

[neverdem]

Sarah Palin Breaks The Mold Again

Palin, Cloward, Piven and Kafka

Johnny Depp wants to teach his kids to handle guns

Secret of Scotland's Shrinking Sheep Solved Anthropogenic global warming is Bush's fault!

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

Happy Fourth of July!

[xkaydet65]

FoxNews has been scrolling the Declaration of Independence. Especially the following: “ When any government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it...”

[BIGLOOK]

I thought the title is odd. I remember the Declaration of Independence as a truly beautiful description of a long list of tyrranical abuses of the people that invoked the Creator in one way or another four times. For that long list of tyrranical abuses of the people, they told Obama to get lost.

"Deja vu, all over again."

Yogi Berra

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!