The Declaration of Political Independence

(My apologies to Thomas Jefferson)

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 citizen long guaranteed by our Constitution, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to that separation.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all humans are created equal, and that the People of the United States of America are endowed not only with certain unalienable rights, but also with certain rights and liberties given to them by the Founding Fathers via the Constitution of the country adopted at the birth of these United States, as well as via laws passed throughout the past 239 years. That to secure these rights and liberties, the Government has been instituted among people, deriving their power from the consent of the governed, and that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that humankind 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 Objective evinces a design to reduce the people under absolute Despotism, it is the people’s right, it is the people’s duty, to stand up to their Government and its allies - the Political Parties, and their Corporate, Banking, and Industry bedfellows - and strive to change the course being charted by them. Such has been the patient sufferance of the People of the United States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter the ties that effectively bind them to their political captors. The history of our recent Government of the United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the People. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The Government and their allies in the two main political parties, have refused to Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

They have stonewalled and dallied, avoiding passing Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless watered down in order to please the Corporations, Moneychangers, and Big Industry that line their pockets.

They have bowed to the wants of the Corporations, Moneychangers, and Big Industry, and instead have made laws favorable to them and not the public at large.

They have neglected to truly investigate and prosecute those Corporations, Moneychangers, and Big Industry who have violated the Laws of this Nation and in some cases changed the Laws of this Nation to accommodate said violations.

They have haphazardly and cavalierly engaged in War-making with other countries and have fabricated the justifications for it.

They have persisted in the use of drones on civilians in several other countries with which we are not at War, and are leaving mounting civilian casualties in the wake of this usage of drones.

They have set up a sole arbiter to be able to deprive anyone, including citizens of this Nation, of Life, who makes these decisions in secret and without any checks or balances – no oversight whatsoever.

They have made it common practice to prosecute whistleblowers as opposed to investigating and prosecuting wrongdoers.

Instead of “promoting the general Welfare” as the preamble to the standing Constitution states, they have:

Codified a for-profit system of healthcare, failed to institute any real affordability controls, and guaranteed penalty to those who cannot afford to purchase it.

Deregulated industry in general and delegated remaining regulation to those friendly with the industry they are regulating.

Failed to institute a living wage thereby relegating working people to lives of indentured servitude and others to lives of steady and increasing poverty.

Aided the Corporations, Moneychangers, and Big Industry in outsourcing jobs.

Helped militarize civilian law enforcement and stood by while it was used, sometimes violently, against people simply exercising their rights.

They have effectively undermined the following Amendments in the Bill of Rights:

When journalists are shut up, shut out, arrested, or professionally smeared for doing their jobs, and the people have excessive limitations on the right to assemble in protest, and only those with power and financial means have a platform, the First Amendment is effectively dead.

When people are subject to warrantless wiretaps, data mining without consent, dragnet collection of all of their communications by Government regardless of whether Government is actively listening and reading them or not, and routinely have property seized while not involved in criminal activity, the Fourth Amendment is effectively dead.

When many citizens of countries around the world have been detained under a special designation meant to circumvent long standing laws and held for years without due process or any hope for release, when citizens remaining silent can be used as incriminating evidence against themselves, and anyone can be added to a secret assassination program list that exists without due process or oversight, the Fifth Amendment is dead.

When indefinite detention exists and trials can be held using secret evidence and witnesses not available to the defense, the Sixth Amendment is dead.

When indefinite detention and secret assassination programs exist without oversight or due process, the Eighth Amendment is dead.

In every stage of these Oppressions, we have Petitioned and attempted Assembly requesting Redress in the most humble terms; Our repeated Petitions and attempted Assemblies have been answered only by repeated injury and escalation of Oppression. A Government, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyranny, is unfit to be a Government of a free people and unfit to be considered a Democracy.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions of our Government, their Parties, and their Corporate, Banking, and Industry bedfellows. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their branches to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of our longstanding laws and traditions; we have appealed to their justice and magnanimity, and We have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations. 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 people of the United States of America, generally Assembled, and 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 States, solemnly publish and declare, That these people united in their Voices are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the Political Powers that be, and that all political connection between them, their Parties, and their Representatives, is and ought to be totally dissolved. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Voices, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

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lotlizard's picture

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triv33's picture

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I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~

Pluto's Republic's picture

…it stuck with me.

So, I came back to thank you for such a worthwhile redrafting. My favorite line on this document, once I was old enough to understand it, was:

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that [hu]mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Stockholm Syndrome, battered-wife syndrome, and emotional bonding with captors in abusive situations. It is an evolutionary adaptation rooted in the need to survive.

I believe this syndrome is far, far stronger among Americans now, that it was in 1776. Modern Americans are completely isolated from the world, geographically, and they have even been propagandized to feel contempt and resentment toward Mexicans and Canadians. The people feel alone and powerless. They cling to hope that voting might improve their festering social bonds. Above all, they don't want to be singled out by the government! Thus, they would rather endure their government's social abuses (and politically-based slaughter of innocents throughout the world who resist US rule). Cognitive dissonance has given Americans positive feelings toward their controllers and negative feelings toward the rescuers (activists). Indeed, they support their abuser, the US oligarch regime that terrorizes the world and destroys nation, committing the most egregious war crimes against humanity. Americans lack any desire to be rescued. They want to be protected from the reckoning coming their way as a result of their global murder and mayhem. They are patriots.

They are barbecuing, and they just want to survive.

In his recent essay, Dimtry Orlav asks Americans:

Do you like your black hole? If you aren't sure you like it, then let me ask you some other questions: Do you like the fact that your credit cards still work, or that you can still keep money in the bank and even get cash out of an ATM, or that you are either receiving or hope to eventually receive a pension? Do you like the fact that you can get useful things—food, gas, airline tickets—for mere pieces of paper with pictures of dead white men on them? Do you like the fact that you have internet access, that the lights are on, and that there is water on tap? Well, if you like these things, then you must also like the financial black hole, because that's what's making all of these things possible in spite of your country being bankrupt. Perhaps it's a love-hate relationship: you love being able to pretend that everything is still OK even though you know it isn't, and you wish to enjoy a bit more of the business-as-usual before it all goes to hell, be it for a few more days or another year or two; but you hate the fact that eventually the black hole will suck you in, after which point things will definitely... suck.

From The Care and Feeding of a Financial Black Hole.

A must-read.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
triv33's picture

I find it's very hard to convince anybody that they are well and truly fucked when they look around and things look kinda normal. Yes, yes, they know the economy is "bad" and people need jobs, but....no. They can't be fucked! This is America! LOL. Read what? What do they know? If so and so does this and that everything will be FINE. And then they go about their day. tra la la~

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I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~

shaharazade's picture

to Jefferson or anybody. This is a relevant interpretation of the first Declaration of Independence for these sorry times. I'm so glad I'm absolved from allegiance to the powers that be. They really suck and need to be rejected and ejected. Thanks for the declaration of independence from the assholes that now rule globally and say they are inevitable. Political independence needs to become what brings all people of good spirit together. Perhaps it will as no ordinary people globally like this shit. Most people including the ghost of the flawed yet brilliant Jefferson applaud your declaration. Lets hope it becomes what humans here and everywhere demand. This is what democracy should look like. thank you.

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elenacarlena's picture

My favorite part:

Instead of “promoting the general Welfare” as the preamble to the standing Constitution states, they have:
Deregulated industry in general and delegated remaining regulation to those friendly with the industry they are regulating.
Failed to institute a living wage thereby relegating working people to lives of indentured servitude and others to lives of steady and increasing poverty.
Aided the Corporations, Moneychangers, and Big Industry in outsourcing jobs.
Helped militarize civilian law enforcement and stood by while it was used, sometimes violently, against people simply exercising their rights.

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