Happy Fourth everbody. Happy Birthday America:
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 shown 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.
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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 the 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.
1 comment:
The sum of the ideas put forth in the Declaration of Independence include the observable fact that government, in and of itself, is not evil. Government is, in fact, necessary to secure the rights of individuals. This central position - that government is necessary - puts lie to the Reagan Doctrine: that government is "...not the solution to the problem...it is the problem." The Reagan Doctrine is, in and of itself, manifestly contrary to the Declaration of Independence. It is the polar opposite of the fundamental point and purpose of the framers intent: "...that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men (a.k.a. 'human beings'). The anti-government, anti-tax philosophy of so-called "Tea Party" and others who wish to reduce the size of government to a point where they can "...drown it in a bathtub..." are no better than traitors bent on the destruction of our country. Paying taxes is Patriotic. It is an acknowledgment that Government is, in fact, necessary to secure the rights of individuals. To maintain otherwise is to admit that, in fact, their goal is to remove the 'cop from the beat' so that they may usurp the rights of others in pursuit of their own.
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