In a discussion with my girlfriend the other day I looked up the Declaration of Independence. We all know how it begins:
But below it are a list of charges made by the Continental Congress against King George III. And in reading through them, it's amazing to me how many of these charges now apply to President George today. Read on...
It was surprising--though, sadly, not nearly as surprising as it ought to have been--to see just how many of the very violations of human decency that triggered the founding of this nation have been repeated by the current Administration. Below, I present the rest of the Declaration of Independence.
I have boldfaced the causes for separation that President George has himself been guilty off, and added my own comments in italics.
Reading through the Declaration and applying it to America today is illuminating--and chilling.
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 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. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain 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 above paragraph could easily have been written about the Bush Administration, couldn't it?
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. How many "signing statements" has he made to ignore laws he doesn't like?
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. Like how he and his allies buried the immigration bill? And again, the "signing statement" that allowed him to flout laws?
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. Denying representation is something he's done, but it'd be a stretch to connect it to this cause.
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.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. Similarly, President George and his allies in Congress have pushed those who oppose his invasions on the rights of people to the sidelines, and muzled them. And abroad, he has forced his vision of government on other nations, dissolving those governments that he doesn't agree with, whether the people of those nations like it or not.
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. Sounds eerily like what President George has done to Iraq, doesn't it?
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. Not a match, but man, the neoconservative anti-immigration hysteria sure flies in the face of this, doens't it?
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. Twofold: People being held without trial in Guantanamo and in secret prisons abroad; and President George is one Supreme Court Justice away from completely neutering the courts of any potential for limiting executive power.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. Granted, the Dobsons of the world have a say here, but this Administration and its allies are doing everything they can to ensure only their ideological allies make it to the bench.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. Department of Homeland Security.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. And this is truly frightening.
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: Every power-grab and illegal infringement of our rights fits this definition.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: Hey, here's one that doesn't fly. I guess the Third Amendment is secure for now.
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: How hard has the Administration tried to shield criminals within the military from being prosecuted for atrocities committed on the Inhabitants of these states, and foreign states, who happen to not be citizens? And how hard has the Administration tried to justify and promote these atrocities?
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: A tenuous connection, but Bush's consistent enragement of the international community certainly threatens to have that effect.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: I don't think I can make a connection here; everything's still done by Congress.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: Do I even need to explain this one?
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: The difference here is there is no "trial".
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: Let's not forget President George now rules not one, but three, nations: the USA, Iraq, and Afghanistan... and the latter two certainly fit this scenario.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: The unitary executive.
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. Violations of FISA, extraordinary rendition, signing statements, and the virtual abandonment of legislative oversight of the executive have taken us dangerously close to this scenario.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. What domestic policy has he promoted here other than to keep us all in fear?
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. Not here, yet... but Iraq? Afghanistan?
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. This may be an overstatement, but he is using foreign mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, and unfortunately too many of them are indeed engaged in works of death, desolation and tyranny. NOTE: This is not to discount the noble and brave service of the vast majority of military men and women serving at home abroad. I have a cousin there myself. And the violations of human decency perpetrated by mercenaries and some US servicemen are an affront to the dignity of everyone serving in the region, and must be called out as such.
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. Now, there is a strong undercurrent of racism in Jefferson's words here, but I do not wish to delve into that at this time. However, President George has been very busy inciting, or exciting, terrorists around the world to attack Americans, and their rule of warfare definitely seems to be an undistinguished destruction of man and woman, young and old, civilian or military. So the analogy does apply. The racism, strangely, does too, as anti-Arab hysteria is being stoked in America and has been for the last five years.
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. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, 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 Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. -- 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.
And there we are. See how many of the Causes of Separation have been mirrored, in part or in whole, by the actions of this corrupt and power-mad government?
This is one of many reasons why the proverbial bums must be thrown out this November, and the Bush administration stopped: They are quite literally acting to destroy the very principles upon this nation was founded, one by one.