by Ashutosh Jogalekar
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for the people of a nation to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with their Executive, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature 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 Americans are created equal, that they are endowed by their Constitution with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, the Executive is chosen among Men and Women, deriving his or her just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Executive becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Executive, 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 Executives lawfully appointed 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 an Executive, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of the people of these United States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their present Executive.
The history of the present Executive of the United States is a history of repeated injuries, usurpations and monarchical tendencies, 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 Checks and Balances, Separation of Powers and Due Process, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has caused the destruction of the United States economy, which until recently was the Envy of the World, and consigned its Citizens to poverty and inflation.
He has eroded the goodwill of the United States among the Nations of the world, turning what was once a most admired country into the world’s pariah.
He has alienated our Friends and Allies and embraced other Tyrants and autocrats.
#He has refused to provide federal aid necessary for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish their Constitutional rights of free speech and expression, rights inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
#He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers and calling for the Impeachment of Judges for upholding the Constitution.
#He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has eroded the United States’ great advantages in Science and Technology by withholding aid to cutting-edge Research, firing productive scientists from Federal Agencies and making the Nation inhospitable to the world’s scientific talent.
He has prostituted the Office of the Executive to purposes of private Emoluments, enriching himself and his Relations at the public Expense.
He has relentlessly attacked those who disagree with him under the guise of free speech violations and pretended reasons, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has threatened Ministers who will not carry out his bidding with loss of their elective office, abolishing the boundary between the Executive and the Legislative.
#He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of sycophant and loyalist Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
#He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose abusing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; violating their Rights of Free Speech; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.
He has conscripted Unelected Billionaires into doing his bidding and dismantling the Federal Government and its essential Services under the nefarious guise of Efficiency.
#He has threatened to keep among us, in times of peace and to quell Constitutional Free Speech rights, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
#He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power and answerable only to him.
#He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and proud history, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to Acts of pretended Legislation and Patriotism:
#For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes and Tariffs on us without our Consent:
#For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
#For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
#For threatening to annex neighboring Provinces, establishing therein an Arbitrary Autocracy, and usurping their Boundaries so as to render them at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule:
#For making our own Legislatures subservient to his beneficence and arbitrary authority, and himself invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever:
For taking away our Liberties, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and trying to alter fundamentally the Forms of our Governments established by our Founding Fathers.
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 Chief Executive, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Executive and public servant of a free people.
We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Laws of our Constitution and Elected Representatives for the rectitude of our intentions, do solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent of the present Executive; that they should be Absolved from all Allegiance to him, and that all political connection between them and him, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent People, they have full Power of Peaceful Protest, Impeachment and Democratic Transfer of Power, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent People in a free Democracy may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of our Constitution and the legacy of our Founding Fathers, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Note: While putting together this piece, the author was surprised to find how much of the original wording from the Declaration of Independence could remain remarkably unchanged or little changed and still be relevant to the present situation. This wording is referred to with a #.