Column #411       July 14, 2023Declaration of Independence

Most Americans, including readers of this column, are out of touch with our country’s history. For instance, can you explain what constitutes good reasons for an insurrection? You’re probably familiar with these words “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.” But what justifies the securing of these rights? In other words, what would a Declaration of Independence read like in 2023?1

Would a Declaration of Independence written today still make the point that proper governments are instituted among men, and given their powers by the governed? Would it say that any form of Government that becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to change the government? So I ask, are we insurrectionists or patriots or both if we demand change?

Overthrowing a government should not be taken lightly. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, designed to reduce the people by oppressive or despotic exercises of power, it is the citizens’ right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new representatives for their future security. Is this treasonist rhetoric?

Just like in 1776, today many people believe there’s a case for altering the current systems of government. For decades our government has repeated injuries and usurpations, all having the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the States and their citizens. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

1.  Our government refuses to enforce wholesome laws necessary for the public good that have been established by the legislatures.
2.  Our government has suspended State laws that are of immediate and pressing importance.
3.  Our government has subordinated the right of representation in the State legislatures when it funds State programs such as education.
4.  Our government has bureaucracies that meet in places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from their public records, for the sole purpose of creating regulations for which the citizens must comply.
5.  Our government has repeatedly manipulated election procedures though various means, including propaganda, censorship, and ballot irregularities resulting in changing the representations of the people.
6.  Our government has manipulated election procedures, to cause others to be elected leaving States and cities exposed to all the dangers of an invasion from without, and convulsions within.
7.  Our government has ignored the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners causing great burdens upon the States.
8.  Our government has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing respect for the laws, when establishing judges who do not uphold the law.
9.  By coercion our government has made Judges dependent on its will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries rather than follow the Constitution.
10.  Our government has erected a multitude of agencies, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass the people.
11.  Our government, in times of peace, has kept among us policing, spying, and censoring agencies without the consent of our local legislatures.
12.  Our government has affected to render the DOJ, FBI, CIA, IRS, CDC, NIA, EPA, DEA, and ATF independent of and superior to the local civil power.
13.  Our government has combined with foreign agencies and governments to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws plus has involved us in wars without legislative approval.
14.  Our government has stationed large bodies of armed troops and government agents among us.
15.  Our government has created a two-tiered justice system complete with mock trials.
16.  Our government has established international trade policies that are anti-American.
17.  Our government has created numerous taxes on all citizens and is adding armed tax collectors by the thousands.
18.  Our government has deprived citizens of the benefits of a fair Trial by Jury by bringing charges in localities that favor the government’s politically motivated cases.
19.  Our government has transported from local jurisdictions, those charged with minor infractions, then held them without trial to be tried for pretended offences.
20.  Our government has abandoned immigration laws and flooded our country with foreign immigrants that burdens the states’ welfare, education, and policing structures while changing the culture.
21.  Our government has abolished our most valuable laws and the integrity of our currency, which alters fundamentally the forms of our Governments and the security of our citizens.
22.  By executive orders and bureaucratic rulings our government has suspended our State laws and even Supreme Court rulings thereby declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in various cases to the detriment of the citizens of the States.
23.  Our government has abdicated government for the people, by declaring MAGA conservatives as enemies of democracy and therefore the country.
24.  Our government has invaded our homes, censored our speech, spied upon us, diluted the value of our money, and destroyed the lives of our people.
25.  Our government has used the laws and decrees of foreign entities to complete the works of tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the governing head of a civilized nation.
26.  Our government has constrained our fellow citizens to bear arms against their fellow man, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
27.  Our government has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and, has endeavored to bring on the police state, whose known rules of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

These 27 grievances are today’s versions of the original 27 grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence. Our nation’s Founding Fathers used 27 grievances as the basis for declaring independence from England and fomenting an armed insurrection. But did you know that today their complaints are considered to be crimes against the United States and its Constitution? There are several federal laws that punish anyone who actively attack the United States government itself, or that attacks the Constitution.2 3

Does that mean a modern version of the 27 grievances is a crime? Well, for those who walked about in the Capitol building on January 6 they certainly have been treated that way—yet the majority of arrested trespassers on that day were merely peacefully protesting the way the balloting was handled in a few locations in a few States.

Currently, the Constitution is still mostly being enforced as written. But our current government and its multilayered bureaucracy (deep state) is very hostile to the ideals as enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Does that mean differences can still be ironed out at the ballot box? And, we must ask, what if our votes aren’t counted properly? Will there even be an election?

If for some reason, or list of reasons, our freedoms are lost and the USA becomes another petty South American third-world country like Cuba or Venezuela, then will it be against the law to write another Declaration of Independence?

Our Founding Fathers would be appalled at how we’ve let the government of the USA end up replicating the King of England from whom they declared their independence. To better understand them now we need to actually read the Declaration of Independence and note how similar its text is compared to a version written in 2023. It’s rather sobering.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

1. Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

2. The Declaration of Independence: What Were They Thinking? by Ranger Val & Ranger Bill from National Park Service

3. Thirteen Federal Criminal Laws That the Pro-Trump Mob May Have Violated, Explained by Ian Millhise from Vox Media