Celebrate your independence today and everyday

Today we celebrate the rejection of tyranny and the establishment of a system of government unique in the history of mankind.  Set aside 5 minutes of your day to read the Declaration of Independence:

Declaration of Independence

I call your attention to the section of the Declaration that is most familiar to us:

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 affect their Safety and Happiness.

This country is founded on these principles:

• Rights are naturally bestowed upon us at birth.  Rights are not gifts given by government.
• Government is created by the people to secure the rights that were naturally bestowed upon us at birth.
• Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.
• It is the right of the people to alter or abolish any form of government that no longer protects the rights that were naturally bestowed upon us at birth.

The declaration also describes the specific injustices perpetrated by the King of England:

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.

In the list of abuses and usurpations please take note of the following:

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

Today the Federal Government has grown far beyond its original function of simply securing our natural rights. The size and power of the Federal Bureaucracy reaches into every facet of everyday life. The multitude of New Offices and the swarms of Officers of today’s Federal Government is harassing our people and eating out our substance.

It is our right; it is our duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our future security.  I will not submit to these abuses and usurpations.  I will not remain silent.  I will unwaveringly work to reduce the size, scope, and power of the Federal Government.