Stuck in the Fourth of July

Both Thom Hartmann and Scott Horton read the Declaration of Independence for their Fourth of July shows, and both times it was chilling to think that a people were ready and willing to fight and die for freedom from the overreaching rule of their government. The Declaration lists the ways that the Mad King, George III, and his administration had infringed on the natural rights of their subjects... and you know, I am amazed at how the words that ten or twenty years ago meant 'history' to this sleeping American, now, under our own Unitary Executive, have a whole new meaning.
Click on the Thom Hartmann or Scott Horton links in the list at the right side of the page and listen to their shows on your computer or download it to your .mp3 player. Or read it from the original.
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While I was looking for a photo of the original Declaration, I ran across this:

ON THE 4TH OF JULY, READ “THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FOR IMPEACHMENT” OF BUSH & CO.
By David Swanson
AfterDowningStreet.org
Sunday, 02 July 2006
[Emphasis, words in brackets (”[ ]”), mostly from the Declaration of Independence itself, which David Swanson left out (incorrectly in my opinion), and/or editing of the title, added by Wolf Britain.]

Veterans for Peace has drafted a Declaration of Impeachment using nothing but excerpts from the Declaration of Independence (plus a few words in parentheses). It reads as follows, and should be read at picnics and protests on the Fourth of July:

”… (W)henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [’… that all (people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these (Rights) are Life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of Happiness…, (and that) Governments are instituted among (the People), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …’], 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 [Liberty,] Safety and Happiness …

”… (A)ll experience hath shewn, that (hu)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 … design(s) 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 …

”The history of the present King (George)… is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States [and the world]. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

[”He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for public good (and Liberty). He has forbidden his (more independent Lawmakers) 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 (obey) them (or to give his Assent that he must obey them) …]

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance …

“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 (false and fraudulent) Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops (and domestic mercenaries) among us: For protecting them… from punishment for any Murders which they… commit on the Inhabitants of these States …]

“(He has) … deprive(ed) us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury … transport(ed) us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences … [taking away (recognition and observance of) our Charters (Treaties and International Laws), abolishing (or refusing to obey countless numbers of) our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Form(s) of our Government(s) …]

“He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us …

“He is at this time transporting large Armies … to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

“He has constrained our fellow Citizens … to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren [abroad], or to fall themselves by their Hands … [and excited (and provoked) domestic insurrections amongst us …]

”[In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress (of Grievances under the First Amendment of the Constitution, and Article Three of the Bill of Rights, of these United States) in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury(ies).] A (President), 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 attention to (the Bush administration). We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their (”Republican”/”Conservative”) legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our (Freedom and Liberty) here (in this country). We have appealed to … justice … and we have (sought to influence) them by the ties of (Liberty and Freedom) to disavow these usurpations (of Freedom and Liberty), which would inevitably (destroy) our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguin(u)ity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of (hu)mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.]

”WE, THEREFORE, [the (People) of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA] … do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People [of these United States], solemnly publish and declare, That these … FREE AND INDEPENDENT (PEOPLE) … are Absolved from all Allegiance to the (Bush administration), and that all political connection between them and (this administration), is and ought to be totally dissolved … 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.”