The most fundamental founding principle of our country is that a government draws its just powers from the consent of the people.
I withdraw my consent. I am sending this letter to my Congressman and to both of my Senators. I invite you to use my text or adapt it as you feel best, to inform your representatives of your withdrawal of consent.
Dear (Senator or Congressperson):
As you know, it is an axiom of our Republic that the legitimacy of any government is derived from the consent of the governed. I am writing to inform you that I am withdrawing my consent. In the coming weeks, you and your colleagues may find that I am not the only America doing so, and that the numbers may continue to grow.
Whether or not this happens, I am required as part of the "posterity" to whom our founders bequeathed liberty to do all I can to preserve that liberty. In this role, I cannot consent to this government or recognize the legitimacy that it does not possess.
As a patriot, I am withdrawing my consent for a number of reasons, which include:
• the majority of elected officials in the Federal government have broken their vow "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" and are therefore unworthy of their positions or our support
• they have gone to war numerous times without the required Declaration of War from Congress as clearly stipulated in our governing document
• they failed to protect our unalienable rights, and are currently systematically violating them in a number of ways; for example, by operating an unregulated surveillance program which violates our privacy and liberty
• they have defiled liberty by operating secret prison camps, suspending habeas corpus and torturing people—activities which cannot be a part of any country that claims to be civilized, much less one founded on the principle of liberty
• they are engaging in direct ongoing abuse of the 9th amendment and the principles laid out in our Declaration of Independence by failing to recognize our unenumerated rights (many of which were also known to our founders as "natural rights") and taking the position that unenumerated rights cannot be protected by the courts
In addition to those fundamental crimes against liberty, I am also withdrawing my consent due to political crimes including:
• facilitating the destruction of our economy by removing and/or failing to enforce regulations designed to prevent such a collapse
• confiscating taxpayer dollars to "bail out" those who destroyed our economy and prohibiting any recourse by the people through the courts
• starting a ruinous and bloody war based on lies and continuing that war even after those lies have been exposed
I would like for you to read this letter on the floor of the [ U.S. Senator / House of Representative ] and request (on my behalf) a point-by-point response from your colleagues.
Regards,
Those of you who have read this far may find this humorous or simply ineffective. The latter it may certainly be; but I reject the notion that trying to defend liberty is humorous.
And whether or not it is effective, or is the beginning of something that becomes effective is, in part, up to you. If you agree with me, please send your own letters to the Senate and House. Maybe this will become viral; maybe our voices will be heard. I understand that the odds seem slim.
But I remember that one man in India (with more more skill and savvy than I will ever possess) freed his country with peaceful protest. And our own founders took on the greatest military power on earth to win us our liberty.
I also believe that writing a few letters is the least we can do for those that came before, including Madison, Jefferson and the troops in the Revolutionary War—who risked their safety and sacrificed their lives so that they—and we—could be free.
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Please recommend this diary if so inclined.
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P.S. - really sorry about those strange symbols in the poll...