Independence Day

Today, ironically, we celebrate our independence. Two hundred and forty years ago we cast off a totalitarian government for a long chain of abuses. I’d like to show you how far we’ve come.

Independence Day

Declaration of IndependenceBut first, it’s important to understand what Independence Day is, and what it is not. On the Fourth of July, 1776, we did not create the United States of America. We did not create the behemoth that has become the most corrupt and indefensible nation on the planet. The Declaration  did not grant extraordinary authority to an exclusive few while the rest had their liberty, privacy and individuality revoked. It did not preserve the horrors  of  slavery, religious persecution, and war. These things cannot exist without government, and this Declaration effectively dissolved ours.

It’s really telling  that last  week the UK dissolved their membership with the European Union. Forty years ago fewer than the population of Florida within the UK decided they needed a new master, and two thirds of the population chose the federalism of the EU.  After Federalism didn’t work, about the same number of people that voted them in, voted them back out again. For now, at least.

Home again, home again. Back here, back then, in the Americas, where we had thrown off our foreign masters and united for our own defense, things were tough for a few years, yet. The ensuing war lasted seven years and took the lives of as many as 75,000 colonials and up to 100,000 others. But that’s a different story. What we’re talking about here is the Declaration. The moment we chose to throw off the chains of imperialism.

flagBelow you’ll find the text of the Declaration of Independence, with links throughout to current events demonstrating that while we may have had a brief, 240-year hiatus, we’re in the position Franklin knew was the inevitable result of all Republics in known history.

One final note: I’m sick of hearing those who signed the Declaration lumped in with the  “Founders”. They didn’t “found” anything, they dissolved their  bond with a government that bore them nothing but disrespect, malice and ill will.


IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

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 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. 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 invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations 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 benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring 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, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat 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 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 insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured 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 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 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 to 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.

 

CISA Is Coming

By the end of the week CISA will be passed into law. Have you read it? There’s really not much to it, as it’s designed like Obamacare — granting a  government department  the ability to develop its own policies, procedures, rules and exceptions, as long as they follow  rather generic rules about collection and disclosure.

CISA provides businesses immunity from  all liability and antitrust laws if they share “automated” data — even if doing so is in direct violation of their own terms of service or contracts.

The “immunity” is written rather interestingly. Not only does it immunize businesses that share information about their customers, but it also provides immunity to any individual hacker that actually performs attacks against any US individual or business as long as they share “some” of their results with the government. The government essentially provides free reign for the creation of a new class of American trespasser/digital B&E, as long as they tithe the State.

CISA allows the federal government to collect  all digital data, permanently, to “fight terrorism.”

It allows this data to be used to “regulate” the  lawful activities of ordinary Americans, as long as the data isn’t collected “only” for that purpose (and since it’s collected to “fight terror”, it gets an immediate green light). This means they can create a database collecting every email relationship to ferret out personal details. For example, collecting political leanings and use that information to create lists of gun owners, gays, and foodies. The information can then be used to target them the same way the IRS targeted conservatives or Hitler targeted Jews.

One of my main concerns is that this will eventually lead to a US-based equivalent of the Great Firewall of China. The last thing the US needs as we head to war with Russia, and inevitably China, is any real or perceived  cap on our ability to obtain legitimate news from the rest of the world. We’re sure not going to get it at home.

The most terrifying aspect of the law is that it only requires the new government department to report to congress every two years, while the security implications of pretty much all digital activity changes, literally, from minute  to minute. Most tech security automation today is designed to auto-expire attack and hack filters within 24 hours. This means that by the time congress is able to act on specific implementations or changes, years may have passed.

Just remember: when Rand and Bernie agree, something is very wrong.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Please take a moment to remember what this day represents: standing up to oppression and a statement of freedom.

Declaration of IndependenceThis day is not about the formation of the United States, but of the dissolution of the bonds the American  colonists had with England, a remote entity who didn’t share their values, interests or goals. England imposed  her will on the colonists without proper representation — deciding  their fates based on grand self-interest.

The current administration usually adorns these types of declarations with one of the adorable phrases “we can’t wait” or “for the children.” Nevertheless, these are abuses on their face and no amount of decorative wording can justify these actions.

The great men we call the Signers and Founders did not start by creating a new government to replace what they had, but first agreed that whatever may happen, what they had was severely broken, and knowing that regardless of what MIGHT come in the future, that what they were already subjected to was simply unacceptable.

The Signers had no way of knowing that several years in the future their efforts would eventually lead to a functional democratic republic.

As a developer I believe in having a true understanding of all inputs and potential complications before opening up an IDE, but when your life and liberty are on the line it’s all too often important to act impulsively. Remember this the next time you’re treated like a war criminal for refusing to submit to bogus “authority,” are threatened with force if you dare step outside  your “free speech zone”  or are declared an enemy combatant simply for disagreeing with Dear Leader.

Bald Eagle by Águila calva CC BY-SA 3.0The Declaration of Independence, for which this holiday is named, identifies twenty-seven (27) distinct classes of violations against the colonists. Fully twenty-two (22) of these are being actively repeated by the current administration and other recent administrations.  Of the remaining five, three are likely already happening as well — the incomprehensible lack of government transparency shrouds far too many of their actions. Moreover, there are plenty of additional offenses against us taking place each and every day, such as the gross invasion of our privacy by the NSA. Are we really supposed to believe that “person, papers and effects” doesn’t include our computers, telephones or travel?

Since the passage of the 16th amendment, which provided the federal government with it’s very own wishing well, our nation has gone to hell in a hand-basket. The last hundred years our nation has decayed more and more, providing a roost for some of  the worst mankind has to offer. From war profiteering to false flags to backroom deals for lobbyists…our elected representatives would do well to wear the logos for the brands and companies who sponsor each of their activities, for so rarely are they truly representing the interests of their actual  constituents. We can no longer stand idle while these people perform their ghastly deeds in secret, in our names. Sadly, “voting the bums out” when the only alternatives proffered are two sides of the same coin isn’t a realistic solution.

The worst part of it is that this has been in the works for so very long. Our nation flounders because we are so easily divided. The last several Presidents, while on television during (and I use this term in protest) “debates”  they portrayed their actions and positions as heatedly different, each performed in exactly the same ways. Taken as a whole, there has been nothing done by any of them to distinguish them from one another.  You would be hard-pressed to look at the individual actions of any of them and be able to identify exactly which person, or which political party, had done.

Not to be outdone, congress alternates between doing nothing at all and doing everything wrong. Personally, I would rather survive without  the added oppression imposed by “look-busy legislators”, so I pray for stalemate rather than compromise. My darling wife is very fond of saying, “when both houses of congress agree — you can be sure there’s a greater-than-normal conspiracy underway.” Some of the greatest offenses against the American public have been at the hands of a united and near-unanimous majority. Sigh.

This month I’m going to write about each of the reasons the Signers declared independence from England and how that applies to our lives today.  After 238 years, are we falling into the same trap?  Come back and visit. And tell a friend.

-Shawn