We hold these truths to be self-evident: – that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 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 to these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a 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 has shown 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 as 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.
— Paragraph 2, Declaration of Independence
The Founding Fathers worded the Declaration of Independence with the future in mind. They understood that at some future time, the fledgling country would go through a metamorphosis and become the very evil that they were resisting. Those words challenged patriots to rise up against that newly founded government if it should become corrupt. Those men understood that, until human nature changes, any government can become corrupt and begin to oppress the masses.
Portions of the Bill of Rights serve the same purpose within the constitution – to protect US residents from the government. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America states four inexorable things. 1) The government will not establish any religion as a state religion nor will it hinder the legal exercise of any religion by its citizens. 2) Citizens have the right to express themselves freely whether they agree or disagree with the government. 3) The press has the right to freely print or publish opinions whether they agree or disagree with the government. 4) Citizens have the right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The American Oligarchy, big business and big government, consists of corrupt tyrants abusing power for their own gain and goals. It is time for the governed to fulfill their duty – to peaceably assemble and petition for change that benefits the many rather than the elite few. Over the last six decades, our government has increasingly denied the inalienable rights of the common people. How long will we continue to give our allegiance to a government that uses the poor as cannon fodder? How long will we allow our tax dollars to conscript the poor into wars over economic stability? How long will we allow our tax dollars to fuel injustice?
It is time for those who care to take the moral high ground. We must stop turning a blind-eye to the looting of the poor by the wealthy and powerful. If we do not protect the environment (which is our legacy to coming generations) from those who blindly pursue wealth and power then who will? We must speak out against corruption in our boardrooms and in our government. It is time for reform. It is time for us to peaceably assemble and petition our government to rectify the current grievous state of our union.
All US citizens who care must demand equal rights for all US residents, equal rights based on intrinsic human value. Our shared humanness is a bond that cannot be broken. We are one species and we must advance together or not at all.
The needs of our children and grandchildren, indeed of humankind must far out-weigh the personal drive for success, riches, power, and recognition.
The unprecedented political and corporate corruption of the Twenty-first century requires that an egalitarian movement on behalf of the masses stand and face the oppressors of humankind. It is time for us to come together in resistance creating not a faith community but a belief community supporting one another in dissidence and progress.
We must nurture each other’s non-cooperation with this new American regime. As a regular practice, we must gather to guard against the loneliness and despair of our situation.