Happy Birthday, USA! I’m not going to bore you with a lot of platitudes about what it means to be an American. I will not push nationalism, which is really just pseudo-patriotism. There is, however, a document associated with this day, that we all ought to read from time to time, so without further ado…
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 harrass 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 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 Brittish 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.
Inserted from <archives.gov>
Consider the similarities between many of the practices of King George, listed in the complaints, and the policies of the Republican Party.
Have a wonderful holiday, and if you’re single, enjoy life, liberty, and the happiness of pursuit.
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July 4 WH Ceremony Grants Citizenship to 25 Service Members
Twenty-five members of the military are taking the citizenship oath in the presence of their commander-in-chief in a rare Independence Day ceremony today in the White House East Room. They are all active duty, just a handful of the estimated 29,000 foreigners now wearing a U.S. military uniform.
Among them are Hans Lemuel Pang Sy, who joined the Army after 9/11, six years after his family had emigrated from the Philippines. Cristian Felipe Zapata Gil came from Colombia as a teenager but was motivated to become an Army engineer after the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti.
Since shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the U.S. government has put foreign military service personnel on a fast track to citizenship "to recognize their contribution and sacrifice," according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. About 8,000 immigrants enlist each year in the U.S. armed forces.
Foreigners must be in the U.S. legally and must have an established home, and they can serve as enlisted personnel but as non-citizens are not eligible to become military officers. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs John Shalikashvili was born in Poland and as a naturalized citizen he rose through Army ranks to the highest job in the military.
This is the third naturalization ceremony President Obama has hosted for active-duty service members. The Pentagon says that since September 11, 2001, more than 75,000 foreigners in American uniform have become U.S. citizens.
Also Read
http://news.yahoo.com/july-4-wh-ceremony-grants-citizenship-25-members-143331525–abc-news-politics.html
Had Romney been President, they would have been deported, whether or not they had served.
Happy 4th TomCat
Thanks, Mama!
And they try to pin this on Obama
Always!
"Consider the similarities between many of the practices of King George, listed in the complaints, and the policies of the Republican Party."
Happy 4th all…
Striking, isn't it?
The first time I read The Declaration of Independence was after I watched the movie ‘National Treasure’. As so often happens for me, a movie will often provoke my curiosity. This time TC, you provoked my curiosity again and I read it trying to keep the Republican/Teabaggers in mind — The Declaration of Independence, a Modern Context if you like. And another rather strange thing happened — I kept running into these words of wisdom from Mahatma Gandhi: An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
I took that to be a warning of the failure of the Republican/Teabaggers to do what is right for the people, ALL the people. So here are my observations.
“that all men are created equal” — When the Declaration was written, some or all of the authors were slave owners, yet they wrote that “all men are created equal”. It would take another approximately 80 years for slavery to be abolished and almost a century later for a civil rights movement under people such as Martin Luther King Jr to advance the truth of “all men are created equal” even further. And, given the nature of humankind, this truth will always have to be nurtured.
What I see today from my position north of the 49th, is a Republican/Teabagger party that is trying to take the country back to a time at least before the Civil War. With the GOP, not all men are created equal. There are the 1% who have ‘entitlements’ to riches (evidence the income and wealth inequality rates; the low taxation rates) according to the GOP versus the poor and middle classes who bear a greater portion of the tax burden (the new slavery). In the Canadian banking system, we used to say that 20% of our clients hold 80% of the wealth. And while the actual figures are different, the same idea holds true with the wealth distribution. OWS is trying to address these inequalities. The people are more aware of the lack of effective regulation over banks etc that spawned the financial crisis. But the GOP opposes this at every move.
But the GOP also discriminates when it comes to people from the LGBT community. Marriage equality doesn’t exist in most states; being gay is a firing offence when it comes to employment in some states; and bullying of LGBT persons is unfortunately all too common.
There is religious discrimination. Consider that when the original immigrants came to the US, they were fleeing religious prosecution, so it is interesting that 236 years later, there is still religious discrimination. This one is a little harder to see perhaps, but when you have a state like Michigan that passes an anti-bullying law that makes exceptions for religious and moral reasons, then that is religious inequality. And what about the persecutions of Muslims? Certainly, the Republican/Teabaggers are using their own fanatical evangelical Christianity (not real Christianity) as a means to promote their own agenda, and would dearly love to confound the 1st amendment which guarantees the freedom of and from religion, and the separation of church and state.
The GOP has certainly made it their goal to deny women rights over their own bodies and healthcare by outlawing abortion and not allowing contraception. Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen — how equal is that? It seems the Suffragette Movement from the early 20th century didn’t teach a big enough lesson.
And what of legal immigrants? There are states, Florida and Arizona come to mind, that in their zeal to weed out illegal immigrants, trample on the rights of legal immigrants. What about the innocent children of illegal immigrants that know nothing but the US as home? The GOP would deport them without so much as a ‘by your leave’. Everybody needs to remember that we all on this continent, with the exception of First Nations people, were immigrants.
“deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 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” — There are times when the people wonder who the politicians are governing for — too often the prevailing feeling is ‘not me’ or ‘not us’. Too many policies are going to enrich the 1% and corporations. Today, there are regularly scheduled elections (every four years on a rotating basis) but as I understand, once elected, a representative is there for the term. The President may be impeached, a Supreme Court Justice may be impeached but what is there to compel a representative to do the job he was elected to do? Can the people call for the dissolution of the government outside of the 4 year schedule? I can see, that with the Republican/Teabaggers efforts so far with voter suppression under the guise of voter fraud, outright election fraud by the GOP in several cases, and gerrymandering of electoral districts to favour the GOP as populations shift and change, the GOP is looking to create a permanent GOP régime.
“refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good” — This one has the Republican/Teabaggers written all over it. On 20/01/09, the GOP made a pact with the devil that it would obstruct the President at every turn. It laid out its agenda and its members, such as Jabber Jowls McConnell, have stated very openly that they will make Mr Obama a one term president. To me, that almost sounds seditious, however there has been no general advocating of armed insurrection. And obstruct they have by various means. The President has tried to work with them, unfortunately to his detriment. Case at point, the AJA which was presented 3 times in various forms and voted down by the majority GOP. And why all of this? My guess, because Mr Obama is the first Black President of the US and the GOP are still fighting the Civil War.
“He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners” — There are two things that come immediately to mind — Rmoney’s self deportation policy, and ‘papers please’ legislation, particularly in Arizona, which has been overturned but which Arizona staunchly says “it will uphold, the courts be damned”. The GOP really is xenophobic.
“He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone” — The justices of SCOTUS are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and serve until they decide to retire or die or are impeached. Previous Republican/Teabagger presidents have appointed very conservative justices while the Democrats tend to appoint more liberal justices. Unfortunately, a number of the justices have shown their propensity for conservative activism and partisan politics. A case in point is the Citizens United decision which created the situation of corporations being given personhood. Unfortunately this has lead to increased election campaign money and influence. Under the Republican/Teabaggers is conservatism will continue and the rights of the people will be abrogated.
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us” — There have been cases of violence against Democratic representatives and abortion clinics/doctors brought on by conservative public figures. Rep Gaby Giffords was shot in the head by a ‘nut case’ who was influenced by a Sarah Palin picture of crosshairs on Giffords. Laws such as ‘stand your ground’ are being used to justify what otherwise would be murder (Trayvon Martin). Rmoney, in his election campaign, is courting various extremely right wing groups such as the neo Nazis. And to what end? If Rmoney wins the White House, conservatism will take a turn further right. It would not surprise me to see another civil war, but what means it would use is another matter.
Here the US sits, 236 years after the Declaration of Independence, and many of the original grievances are or could be coming back, especially if the Republican/Teabaggers win the White House.
Vote Democrat 2012!!!!! Vote Obama/Biden 2012!!!!!
Well said,
Thanks John!
Lynn, if 10% of US voters were as attentive as you are, out nnation would ne much better informed at the polls.
I hope everyone had a safe 4th of July !
You too, Patty!