Outpost of Freedom blog

Independence Day 2017

Fourth day of July, in the Year of our Lord 2017
and of Our Independence, 241

Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
July 4, 2017 – Independence Day

Many, now, seek to re-declare our Independence, though they have yet to explain from who or what we are declaring Independence.  Instead, perhaps, we need to address a declaration of dependence on the Constitution.

To do so, we must first acknowledge the failure by the current government, instituted under that Constitution, to fulfill the provisions and obligations that brought that government into existence — by and under the Constitution.

The grievances we have bear similarities to those expressed in the “Glorious” Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.

Based upon the concepts of John Locke (1632-1704), the same concept of dissolution of government recognized by the Founders is applicable today.  Locke explained that we had no right to dissolve the government, though the government by deviating from its intended purpose, in that failure, dissolves itself.  It is only for us to recognize that failure to recognize that dissolution.  (See Sons of Liberty #14)

To assure obedience to the Constitution, twelve articles were submitted to the States for ratification as amendments to the Constitution.  When Congress submitted those articles to the States, they prefaced that submission with a preamble, to set forth the purpose thereto:

THE PREAMBLE TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

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We must ask ourselves whether that confidence continues, as was intended, or if that government has failed in its purpose by misconstruction or abuse of its powers.

The North Carolina Supreme Court properly expressed the solution to this failure of the government to abide by the constraints even before the federal Constitution was submitted to the States.

In Bayard v. Singleton [1 N.C. 42; 1787], the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on a case where the legislature had enacted a law contrary to the North Carolina Constitution.  In overturning that law, that Court stated:

“But that it was clear that no act they [the legislature] could pass could by any means repeal or alter the constitution, because if they could do this, they would at the same instant of time destroy their own existence as a legislature and dissolve the government thereby established.”

In light of the above concepts, those same held by the Founders, let us reconsider the approach that is consistent with our creation as a nation, and submit the facts “to a candid world”.

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Declaration of Dissolution of Government

When a government, properly instituted under the authority of the People, by virtue of the Constitution for the United States of America, has abrogated its responsibility under said Constitution, and has removed itself from responsibilities imposed upon it by said Constitution, and, when those People choose 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 recognize such Dissolution of Government.

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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 property.  That to secure these rights within a society, governments are instituted among men of that society, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

When that government becomes destructive of these ends, by usurpation of authority not granted by the People, or by abrogation of responsibilities, it is the right of the people to reinstitute that government on its original foundation and to amend that foundation to assure that such usurpations and abrogations do not recur.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they have become accustomed.  But when long trains 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 for new guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these States united under and by said Constitution; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to amend their former systems of government.  The history of all three branches of the present government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States.  To provide this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

• They have created a fourth branch of government (Administrative Agencies) that is independent of, and not subject to the will of the People;
• Their courts have refused to rule upon the Constitutionality of matters before them;
• They have imposed taxes that appropriate fully one-third of the value of one’s labor;
• They have generated a debt obligation on our posterity, still unborn, into the unforeseeable future;
• They have seduced millions of their people into dependence upon that government, at the expense of their neighbors;
• They have secured for themselves benefit packages approaching those realized by members of Royal courts;
• They have allowed the appointment of officials in capacities not recognized by the Constitution, and barred from recourse by the People;
• They have established control over State and local governments by funding and obligations associated therewith;
• The have supported the creation of a standing army amounting to over one million officers who have both civil and military authority given them by the government;
• They have expanded the standing army by granting policing powers to many agencies of government who have no need to be armed and authorized to use those arms;
• They have provided undue immunity and impunity to those who have been given such powers;
• They have failed, in most instances, to subject their agents and employees to trial by jury, so that the judicial process can determine innocence or guilt, instead, allowing heinous crimes against the People to go unpunished;
• They have enacted laws that have effectively limited the selection of government office holders from two primary parties.
• They have endeavored to create empire around the world, which serves not the People of this nation;
• They have waged war without a proper deceleration of war stating who the enemy is and what event will conclude those wars;
• They have enacted laws well outside of any police powers anticipated by the Framers of the Constitution;
• They have subjected States to arbitrary control of the federal government contrary to the guaranteed form of Republican Government within the States;
• They have created Duplicitous Laws, often in conflict with state laws, creating a dilemma whereby if one complies with state law, he finds himself in violation of federal law;
• They have allowed the use of fiat currency, contrary to the Constitution, and have continued this practice under the guise of a national emergency, which has existed for over 80 years;
• They have allowed favored financial institutions to loan money that does not exist to the people, at usurious rates;
• They have loosened the immigration laws that have served this country well through its history, and refuse, now, to enforce those laws that had been enacted to protect our nation from invasion;
• They have taken States of the Union to court for the State enforcing laws that the federal government refuses to enforce;
• They have extended their jurisdiction over the jurisdiction of the States, nullifying the State’s right to a Republican Form of Government;
• They have enacted laws that conflict with duly enacted state laws, subjecting people who are acting lawfully under state constitutions and laws to punishment for violation of federal laws or rules.
• They have assumed jurisdiction in foreign lands, enforced by kidnapping, torture, and assassination;
• They have suppressed traditions held dear, for centuries, in this nation;
• They have removed the rights of traditional churches and have granted rights to churches foreign to our heritage;
• They have assumed authority not granted by the Constitution;
• They have denied the States and the People rights guaranteed and protected by the Bill of Rights;
• They have charged and tried people for exerting their protected rights of Free Speech, Press, Peaceable Assembly, and Bearing Arms, endeavoring to remove those fundamental rights of expressing dissatisfaction of government activities;
• They have denied longstanding and protected usage of the Public Lands;
• They have removed Public Lands from the beneficial use of the Public, in favor of business and foreign interests;
• They have refused to abide by the “Separation of Powers” doctrine by allowing members of the judicial branches of government to hold office in the legislative and executive branches of government;
• They have granted to fictitious entities (corporations, associations, unions and other organizations) rights that are recognized to be granted by the Constitution only to the people, in their individual capacity;
• They have formed alliances with foreign nations which are objectionable to the intent of the Constitution, and grant favors to foreign interests over the interest of the People;
• They have converted the intent of the “Treaties” clause of the Constitution to circumvent constitutionally prohibited enactments, in the form of rules or regulations;
• They have accused large groups of our population, including veterans who have fought for the country, of being a source of threat to that government, naming them as terrorists, while allowing a freely flowing invasion of our country with people known to be hostile to our Constitution and way of life.

Nor, have we been deficient in informing the government of their failure to acknowledge their obligations under the Constitution.  The government has ignored campaigns, letters, phone calls, and demonstrations, and those who have voiced objection have been slandered by representatives of the government, or charged with crimes and incarcerated.  A government that has become so inured to its belief in its own supremacy so as not to recognize their obligation to respond, with truthful answers, to the question posed by numbers of People (Redress of Grievances), proves a disdain for those governed by that government.  We have appealed to their magnanimity and, in return, have been chastised as incompetent and called names indicative of their supposed superiority.  They have been deaf to the voice of the People, and of Justice.

For these reasons, we have found that this government has dissolved itself, and, our allegiance thereto, and forced us into a state of nature, until such time as the Constitution is restored as the Supreme Law of the Land.