Opus 2012-138, Holidays: George III Reincarnated

Happy 4th of July.  I hope you are celebrating while you still can.

I am going to try to find time today to read through the Declaration of Independence.  It would be a good annual ritual.  Just as on Christmas we read the revelation of the incarnation and on Easter we read the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection, so on Independence Day it would not hurt to read from the primary source.

We are all familiar with the opening paragraphs, with “all Men are created equal,” and “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  Those are inspiring and need to be remembered.

But...

Have you read the rest?  Are you aware of how the issues of 1776 are so much like the issues of 2012?  Let me share a few excerpts that you may not have gotten to.

In the same paragraph as the above you find,

“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.”

Now I want you to substitute “President of the United States” for “King of Great-Britain” and see if you eyes get wide and your blood begins to boil.  How about the next paragraph?

“He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.”

And the next paragraph,

“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.”

If this does not begin to form a pattern for you let me just offer a few hints:  Arizona, Immigration, INS, Supreme Court.  I am sure I could give you more.  The American Revolution did not start because they did not like the tax on tea.  It was the result of a pattern of behavior as old as tyranny.  That is why the Tea Parties have as their central theme limited government.

Are we in a crisis?  I would say so.  Our imperial president feels he is above the law.  We have elections coming.  Get serious.  We have the tool of impeachment.  We may need to use it. 

Look beyond the president.  If Congress were not so out of touch they could take action and reign in the usurpation of power.  Maybe it is time to vote the suckers out, all of the suckers.  I know you like the one you have but you need to seriously ask yourself, “Do my elected officials really believe in ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’?”

Again, I hope you are celebrating while you still can.  We are not as free as we were when I was a child.  Who knows about the future.  We can still say we live in the best country on earth but it won’t stay that way if we don’t pay attention.

homo unius libri