A BuzzFlash Declaration of Independence for 2003
buzzflash.com
July 4, 2003
A BuzzFlash Declaration of Independence for 2003
Independence Day Declaration Of the People of The United States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to reform the political bands which have governed them at home, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to that reformation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all human beings 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 People, 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 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 or 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. Such has been the patient sufferance of these States, And such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former System of Government. The history of the present President of the United States, George W. Bush, 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 the Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has spent the country's surplus and bankrupted the treasury, creating the biggest annual deficit in history, to be followed by still larger deficits and spiraling national debt that will plague our country for generations to come.
He has presided in the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression, losing nearly 3 million jobs, cutting unemployment benefits for more Americans than any other President in United States History, causing the largest stock market downturn in history and the near bankruptcy of nearly every State in the Union, while repeatedly cutting taxes for the wealthiest citizens and corporations in the country.
He has dissolved more international treaties in areas from environmental protection, to human rights, to arms control than any President in United States history, causing untold and unforeseeable harm to not only the people of the United States, but to the people of the world as well.
He has presided over one of the largest security and intelligence failures in the history of the United States, resulting in a most horrific terrorist attack against our soil, then squandered world-wide sympathy directed toward our country on a campaign of imperial aggression for the economic benefit of global corporate interests.
He has attacked and taken over two sovereign countries, one unilaterally against the will of the United Nations and the world community, thus drastically changing longstanding foreign policies, and creating world-wide distrust and disdain for the United States, and has provided no effective plan to rebuild either of those countries.
He has removed or diminished more civil liberties for Americans, and signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution, than any other President in United States history, subjecting citizens and non-citizens to unlawful searches, seizures, detentions, and unrepresented and/or under-represented court trials with no benefit of jury.
He has repeatedly designed and promoted to law policies that invariably benefit the short-term interests of the privileged wealthy and large corporations over the interests of the vast majority of the American People in the areas of health care, disability and retirement benefits, environmental and consumer protection, and education, to name only a few.
He has repeatedly distorted facts or presented outright lies and fabrications in order to persuade both the Congress and the American People to support his personal and financial agendas, resulting in the needless deaths and/or financial ruin of thousands of people both in this country and around the world.
He has undermined the concept of a free and independent press by allowing increased consolidation of ownership by fewer and larger corporate owners, despite enormous public outcry against such changes.
In every stage of these Oppressions, We have petitioned, protested, emailed, telephoned, written letters and otherwise humbly asked for Redress: Our repeated requests have been answered only by repeated and increased injury. A Head of State, 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 elected brethren in Congress. We have warned them from time to time of the attempts by the President to extend unwarranted jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our forefathers’ 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 established form of self-governance. They, too, have for the most part been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, hold them, as we hold the current President and his Administration, Enemies of Freedom.
We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, by our own authority as the Governed, solemnly publish and declare that the Government of these United States be returned to its rightful place under the jurisdiction of the Governed; that the Government return to its appropriate place as protector of the People and the Environment against the special interests of the Corporations with renewed fiscal responsibility for future generations; that the Government return our country to its position as protector of liberty and freedom both domestically and abroad, not through aggression, but through diplomacy, renewed alliances and leadership; that the Government return to the Constitutional principles that are the foundation of over two centuries of successful self-government of these United States of America. 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.
Signed, this day, July 4th of the Year 2003, by BuzzFlash readers,
Kenneth G. Follett, Rockford, IL (co-author of Declaration)
Brent P. Cabrera, Rockford, IL (co-author of Declaration)
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