Thomas Jefferson, in the hayday of the creation of our country was a freshman on all counts. No one wanted to be bored with the pleasantries of writing the formal Declaration of Independence, so all of the old guys gave a parchment and a pen to Thomas Jefferson and said 'here, have at it'.
Today's post will analyze this historical document in the context of your civic duties as an American citizen. Among items such as voting and (unfortunately) paying taxes, you have a civic duty of non-compliance with a government that is tyrannical. Let's read the text.
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.
We're not here to debate whether God exists or not- I could have written the Declaration of Independence and said 'they are endowed by the flying spaghetti monster' and it doesn't make it any more true or false. A statement is not evidence. Off of that tangent.
The Bill of Rights, in addition to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are guaranteed to all persons in this country. In order to secure these rights, a government will be elected from the consent of the governed (you and me). This means that the purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people and to run the country.
Whenever a government becomes destructive in abolishing the fundamental rights of law abiding citizens, it is the right of the people to change the government or to dissolve it, and to institute a new government in its place that is laid upon the foundations of our founding documents. Dissolving the government can come about in many ways- including a vote, protest, or by force.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Here, Jefferson advocates that the government should not be changed for light or 'petty' reasons.
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.
Despotism is defined as one group, such as an oligarchy, or an individual ruling with absolute power. When there is a 'long' train of abuse and usurpations of our rights and founding principles, under the guise of purposefully eroding these rights, the people have a right, and a duty (whether you like it or not) to remove such a Government and to institute a new one which will secure their rights for the future.
To change the government, in a time when it has its own survival in mind (rigged the system); without active force means the application of non-compliance through civil disobedience to any unconstitutional law. The law or action must be unconstitutional- and not merely something that you don't like. If Congress passed a tax on soda tomorrow, that is constitutional, I have a right to be pissy about it and a right to complain. We are in a different realm; in a class of actions that clearly usurp and undermine the Constitution. In our context, let us read the 2nd amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
To secure the rights of a free nation, and to establish the security and well being of the people, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be undermined or infringed.
The right to keep and bear arms, like the entire Bill of Rights are enshrined in these amendments. Removal of the amendment by Congress does not mean the destruction of the inalienable right. Again, the Bill of Rights enshrines these inalienable rights into a paper document.
Any law or action by a government of the United States which is contrary to any amendment of the US Constitution is to be met with non-compliance, in a hope to raise awareness and to passively change a corrupt government without the use of force.
It's quite simple. Whether you like it or not, it is your civic duty to vote, pay taxes, and apply non-compliance to a tyrannical government in their pursuit to undermine our rights. Failure to perform your civic duties... well I will let your peers judge you.
If the US government is uncomfortable with the ideas in our radical document; written by the people for the people, then it has self-interest in mind over serving the people. 'Controlling' the people's rights and taking them away runs contrary to what our nation was founded upon.
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