A Re-Declaration of Independence

A Re-Declaration of Independence

Have you grown disheartened by recent moves toward fascism and a permanent police state in America?  Are you feeling a bit claustrophobic, and perhaps threatened by the government's moves to roll back your Constitutional rights as part of the Forever War against terrorism?  If so, it may be time to re-examine our First Principles, the philosophical beliefs underlying our patriotic allegiance to the America of our forefathers.

Our Federal, State and Local governments treat the Constitution as the lowest law, and not the highest.  To them it is a sunken foundation upon which they have piled a million clarifications and exceptions during 225 years of our nation's history.  Simply reading the Bill of Rights does not provide useful guidance to the citizen about what behaviors are permitted by the State.  But there is a natural law greater than the Constitution, and it is mentioned in our Declaration of Independence.

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,

Each American -- nay, each human being -- has inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  'Inalienable rights' are not rights granted to you by the government.  Inalienable rights cannot be waived by a declaration of war.  They cannot be voted away by the majority.  The Supreme Court cannot take away inalienable rights  But they may be infringed at the point of a gun held by criminals, or by well-meaning bureaucrats who have vowed to enforce their will, also at the point of a gun, come hell or high-water.  And inalienable rights may be lawfully defended.

Our inalienable rights are our Sovereign rights, granted to us by our Creator -- the Creator of our understanding. You may have heard the expression, "A man's home is his castle."  That saying expresses the idea of our intrinsic, sovereign human rights. In my home I am king, I am sovereign.  In my life, my liberty, and my pursuit of happiness I am king -- I am sovereign in these domains, and you are sovereign in your life, your liberty and your pursuit of happiness.  My sovereign rights and freedoms are not limited except when they infringe upon your rights and freedoms.  That is the basis of the highest law, the law our forefathers enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, and which they attempted to protect with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. That is the law spoken of by Jesus and other religious leaders in the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  

According to Merriam Webster, sovereign means "one that exercises supreme authority within a limited sphere".  Government cannot take away or waive these sovereign rights under any circumstances.  In fact, the reverse is true: we institute governments to protect those sovereign rights, and the government derives whatever legitimate authority it holds from the consent of the governed.

Not only may your rights not be taken away by the government, but if the government infringes upon your rights and attempts to deprive you of your sovereign rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness then you may withhold your consent to be governed.  The government works for us to help defend our rights and our freedoms, not the other way around.  It says so, right in the Declaration of Independence:

--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.
 
I cannot improve upon the words of Thomas Jefferson.  And I do not have time tonight to detail the many unconstitutional laws passed by Congress and the many unconstitutional Executive Orders signed by this President and his predecessors.  What I can do tonight is to provide a few quotes from a great revolutionary leader who fought peacefully for human rights.  That man, Mahatma Gandhi taught that:

• Civil disobedience is the inherent right of a citizen.
• Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or, which is the same thing, corrupt.
• Mass civil disobedience was for the attainment of independence.
• Complete civil disobedience is a state of peaceful rebellion, a refusal to obey every single state-made law.
• Aggressive civil disobedience should be confined to a vindication of the right of free speech and free association.