Featured Article:
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
by M. LaMorte
It’s become tradition in this nation to look forward to July 4th, but it seems that in great part the true meaning of the day has to some degree lost its meaning. Oh sure, we have taken to heart John Adams’ desire that we mark the event with “pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations.” We wear our red white and blue, maybe play some patriotic songs on the stereo, then fire up the grill and pop open a beer. We have all too easily forgotten that in his letter to Abigail Adams, before speaking of the “pomp and parade”, John Adams said that July 4th “ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
This nation was founded by men who believed that their rights — and the rights of all — come to us from God, not from man. These feelings were universal among the Founders, and captured so eloquently by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. God gives us the right to life. God gives us the right to liberty. God gives us the right to pursue happiness, the right to earn and own private property, the right to freely speak our minds, the right to freely worship Him, and the right to defend ourselves and our rights. They understood that Rights are given to us by God the Almighty, and that Man cannot give Rights to another, as Man can only grant privileges.
They understood the truth that these God-given rights, these natural rights, are blessings bestowed upon all of us, and the Founders understood that the rights given by God should not be stripped away by Man without just cause. As such, they believed that the role of Government was to help secure those blessings for all, and for that reason — and for that reason alone — Man forms Government: to protect the individual blessings of Liberty.
They also understood that in the history of Man, the very nature of Man always perverts the true purpose of Government to tyrannical ends. Even today in the United States, as well as in every corner of the globe, our God-given rights are under attack as people try to replace God with Government. By small usurpations, by tiny changes in language, by gently changing history, our God-given Rights are endangered by the very Government our Founders created to ensure the blessings of those Liberties. We are told that we should all work together for the common good, and that Government — rather than God — is the answer to all of our problems. The road to tyranny is paved by Government bricks and mortar.
Our Founders knew that their struggle against the Crown was not the first — nor would be the last — time that Man has faced the evils of a tyrannical Government. Our Founders preached patience and caution. They were even willing to endure some encroachments upon their Rights. But after years of abuse from their Government, after years of increasing taxes, judicial abuse of power, repression of God-given Rights, and ignoring polite requests to restore those God-given Rights to the People, the Founders knew that it was time to do what was their last remaining option.
They had to declare their independence.
Not just independence from England. No, they knew that what they were really declaring was that all men had the Right to freedom from oppression; that all men deserved freedom from tyranny; and that all men deserved independence from any government which dared to threaten their God-given rights.
And to that noble and lofty goal, they pledged to each other their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor.
Today we celebrate the 234th birthday of not just the United States, but of our Founding Principles: the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
And as we celebrate these Founding Principles today, let us pause to remember exactly what they are: our Founding Principles were not that we should all work together for the common good, but that each and every one of us are blessed with individual Rights given to us by God. To protect those Rights against a tyrannical Government, today we must all pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.
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Someone famous once said...
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation.” — James Madison
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The nuclear option – mutually assured destruction.
by FiveBoxes StaffBack during the Cold War, there was lots of talk of “Mutually Assured Destruction”: if you launch your nukes, we’ll launch our nukes, and we all die. It’s ironic then, that there’s lots of talk about the so-called “nuclear option” in Congress with regards to how Obama and the Democrats want to force the healthcare bill down our throats. We would like to remind Obama and Congress that “We the People” possess our own nuclear option: secession.
The United States is a Republic. We are a union of states. Without opening the can-o-worms that is the Civil War, (a.k.a. “the War of Northern Aggression”, “the War Between States”, etc), the States do indeed have the right to secede from the Union.
So let’s imagine this: All 50 States agree that on the same date, every State formally secedes from the United States of America. The very next day, all the States declare a new Union of States, based around the original Constitution and all the Amendments except Amendments 16-18 and 21. With all the States having seceded, the existing United States would consist of exactly…. nothing. (Okay, there would be some districts and territories… The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa… but that’s it. For all intents and purposes, the United States would cease to exist.) All Federal property, to include military bases and equipment, would become property of the States where they reside. And with the United States Federal Government gone, the 45 volumes and 30,210 pages of the United States Code, the 67,024+ pages of the tax code, all the entitlements, regulations, taxes, restrictions, licenses, and everything else would likewise be meaningless.
Social Security? Gone.
Welfare? Gone.
IRS and federal income taxes? Gone.
Government meddling in healthcare? Gone.
Government meddling in business? Gone.
Government meddling in our lives? Gone.
A fresh start. What a novel idea. Well, actually, not so much. Thomas Jefferson said of our War for Independence: “God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty…. And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?”
Could it work? Absolutely it could work. The United States federal government cannot exist if there are no States.
Certainly, there are some issues that would have to be resolved, such as our massive debt to foreign countries. It would not be easy. It would not be painless. But if Obama and the current government continue to threaten our liberties and continue to ignore the will of We the People… if they decide to use things nicknamed “the nuclear option”… then perhaps We the People (and We the States) need to invoke our own “nuclear option”.
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