Happy Secession Day!

- Originally Published July 4th, 2006 -
Hello & Greetings from Dixie!

Today marks the 230th anniversary of the American Colonies seceding from the British Empire-- a great day in the history of liberty and self determination.

The prose employed by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence is sublime!

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...

Sadly, we no longer believe that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. That "revolutionary" idea ended in 1865 when the South was forced to submit to an authority from which they had withdrawn their consent.

This set a precedent that has continued to destroy our personal liberties since its innovation and implementation by wicked usurpers and tyrants who have trampled the Constitution of our forbearers under foot to make us subjects to the State when it was the intent of our forbearers to have it the other way around.

Now we know that the government derives its (unjust) powers from the point of a bayonet, the barrel of a gun, or the receiving end of the bomb.

It also derives its (unjust) powers by the intimidation of the citizens by the tax collector and other government regulator who terrorize and intimidate the people into submission.

They are powerful, we are weak.

Now, we believe, or have been lead to believe, that MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.

This was not the foundation on which our country was established.

I see no reason to celebrate the principles that lead the Colonies to secede from the British Empire because we, as a people, no longer hold those truths to be self-evident or unalienable.

Although glorious in 1776, "Independence Day" in 2006 is a troubling day-- a day filled with joy, sorrow, and anger-- especially for those of us who still believe in those unalienable rights-- those rights which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle us; those rights claimed by our forbearers and paid for with the blood of patriots...

I think we ought to think about what has been gained and what has been lost since out first war of secession.

Until next time, I remain yours

In the cause,

~ P. C.

One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence.
~Charles A. Beard