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Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, 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 the separation.

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 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. 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. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain 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 facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, 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 our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our 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 connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

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 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.

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Independence_Day.shtml

Here you can see the images of the original documents and other cool things.

People need to read this and the Constitution. Then compare that to what we have become.

Happy 4th of July, folks, Happy Independence Day. Don't forget to get your health insurance or there will be a $1,000 fine.

That one needs no explanation


Ruby Ridge, Waco etc.


That one doesn't need much explanation


Patriot Act

Yup.

Doug.
I would agree to some extent to those except the last.
Please site an example of an American Citizen in this country who has been imprisoned without benefit of trial by jury other than someone committing an act of war against us.
Prisoners of war do not get a trial. They are captured and detained until the war is over. The only "rights" they have are governed by the Geneva Convention.

Jose Padilla

Like I said. Enemy combatants. He might have been a citizen but he gave up that right when he decided to wage war against America. The ACLU was able to get him tried in a civilian court.
And having been an American Citizen I am surprised they didn't convict him of treason. A hanging offense.

people have got it wrong all the time, it was never happened in Waco but outside about 15 miles in a community called Mt.Carmel and I remember that day when the government attacked them and have spoken to several of the survivors many times about the incident, I use to live not far from where it occurred

I was at Ft McHenry today and they unfurled two large garrison flags (15 stars and 15 stripes). We (family and other tourists) held the flag and sang the Star Spangled Banner at its birthplace. The Declaration of Indpendance was also read and then cannons went off. Huzzah!

A very cool day, overall.

Kevin

Very cool!

It occurs to me after reading the entire declaration it musta really pissed off the King.
There's some pretty strong language in there. No wonder he sent the Whole British Army here to whip them into submission.

Bill, he was arrested in the US not in a combat area, he was not an enemy combatant and it took more than a year before he even saw a lawyer. That makes the government the ones guilty of treason.

You could claim the enemy combatant thing against the CA boy caught in Afghanistan but not Padilla.

Pedilla should have been tried the same way McVeigh was. The rule of law is a pretty important concept which our politicians on either side seem to ignore.

Ruby ridge and Waco was all about cementing power with the BATF. They were a back door curb on the second amendment. I'm not standing up for either Weaver or the Whacko from Waco (sorry Gary, I mean Mt. Carmel), but the BATF and DOJ overstepped their bounds from enforcement to assassination. The Ruby Ridge shooting of Weaver's wife in the head while she was holding her baby, and shooting Weaver's dog was perhaps a little extreme. Breeching the Whacko's compound and burning the children to death was also perhaps a little extreme.

And, no, I don't think "government" is evil. Government is a concept, a system...a thing. Government is no more evil than my pencil is. The use of force is not evil. It is a technique, a tactic that can be used for good or evil, and it has been. It is people who do evil, and it involves intent.

No matter how fine a point we put on laws, they still need human interpretation, and that is where evil may be done.

Happy Fifth of July.

I might agree on the Timothy Mcveigh comparison as a criminal matter but for two things.

McVeigh did not convert to Isam and change his name to Abdullah al-Muhajir and didn't work with foreign terrorists who are at war with us.
I also think had McVeigh Bombed the Oklahoma City building shortly AFTER September 11 things would have been different.

I do not accept the argument that Padilla was not in a combat area. NY City became a combat area after 9/11 as did our whole country.
Just because he was born an American citizen does not mean he should not be treated as an enemy of our country.
As I understand it, it appears that Padilla converted to Islam while in Prison, and eventually made his way to Afghanistan or Pakistan to join al-Qaeda. There he volunteered to do the "Dirty Bomb" thing. Of course it never happened. But he did Join the enemy. That is Treason.
The other factor is how soon this all came about after 9/11. Our country was still in shock.
I think anyone caught working with our enemies should be treated as a prisoner of war. If they are American citizens they should be treated as Spies and treasonous. They should not get a trial in our civilian courts or retain any rights as a United States Citizen.

According to our current government that's anyone who has a Paul sticker on his car, or who believes in the 2nd Amendment, or who speaks out against the government in any way.



The use of force in any case except self defense is evil. Government is about using force to make people who have done no harm to you do what they don't want to do. If that wasn't the case then taxes would be voluntary. The use of force in any case except self defense is evil.

BTW it's not that I'm a pacifist. I carry a gun every day, and am a USMC VN vet.

Quote:
I think anyone caught working with our enemies should be treated as a prisoner of war. If they are American citizens they should be treated as Spies and treasonous. They should not get a trial in our civilian courts or retain any rights as a United States Citizen.



Ah, c'mon Doug, the above statement is a little over the top. Don't ya think.

You think?

http://www.tdbimg.com/files/2009/04/30/-hsra-domestic-extremism-lexicon_165213935473.pdf[/url] http://www.tdbimg.com/files/2009/04/30/-hsra-domestic-extremism-lexicon_165213935473.pdf

Well lets test this.

I can without hesitation say that I am a firm supporter of the 2nd amendment to the Constitution of this here United States of America. As proof of this I tell you I own several firearms. Shotguns, Rifles, Muzzle loaders and one is a replica Kentucky Percussion Cap Long Rifle. The only handguns I currently own are two replica Black powder muzzle loaders I built from a kit. They are real and do fire .45 Caliber round balls but I have owned a Ruger 357 magnum Revolver and a Browning 9 MM Semi Automatic. It is my right to own and carry these weapons when ever and where ever I please. (although there are exceptions to that)

I had a Ron Paul sign in my yard and I am an active member of VOID, an organization devoted to the ouster of all incumbents in the Congress and Senate.
I am also against President Obama's domestic policies and Foreign policies.
And I think we should get our troops out of the Middle East asap.

There ya go Doug. Is that enough dissent. I will be patiently waiting for the FBI or Homeland Security forces to come and get me.

Yep

Mike, Bill..

Yes, Ron Paul is the guy. Have seen him speak a couple times,..have a great appreciation for "Dr. No".

The government is force. It operates by force. That is different from a pencil--another tool--which operates (ok, by force), but by fricton and graphite. A VOLUNTARY government is the key (hey civil war, hello?).

...back to taxes..right? I can be forced to work to make $$$ to pay taxes for things I do not believe in. Free? For society's own good over the individual?