Declaration of Independence

Today, we'll have a little history lesson. We all think we know what the Declaration of Independence was about. It was about the U.S. formally declaring its independence from the King and England. But it was also about showing exactly what the reasons for doing so were. I won't list the entire document here. You can obviously find it at several of the links on this page. What we're going to list are a scary number of reasons listed then that ring true now (modern parallels in italics):

The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] 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. -- Illegal wiretapping

... He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. -- Intervention in the Schiavo case

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. -- mockery of the traditional "advise and consent" role of the senate in judicial appointments

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. -- Department of Homeland Security

... He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. -- a permanent state of war

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 -- violating the constitution and bill of rights

... For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury -- illegal detention without trial or charges

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences -- extraordinary rendition

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 -- getting around U.S. labor law in U.S. Commonwealths like Saipan

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

... He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people -- you name it ... Katrina, the environment

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 and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation -- Iraq

... 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...

And the beat goes on:

Justices rule on California law that lets officers conduct searches without reasonable suspicion of a crime

Supreme Court Approves Another Attack on Our Homes

U.S. Supreme Court OKs no-knock searches



King George III then ... King George II now.

For a nice post on another historical document, the Magna Carta, check out Cyberkitten's recent post, Now That’s What I Call a Sacred Document: Magna Carta

"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."