by Darryl Wilkinson
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The upcoming presidential election has all the makings of the last one, where the nominee representing both the Republicans or Democrats for the highest office in the land leaves one wondering: “Can’t we do better than this?”
Perhaps, then, as we celebrate
the 244th birthday of America, a political reset is in order. Maybe it’s time we rethink our rebellion.
The following was first published by this newspaper in 2002, written by the late Jack Stapleton, (with slight modification for today). It bears repeating:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain rights including life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the need to restore the integrity of the human spirit which makes this country great.
To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed who have gradually seen their rights disappear and now find themselves at the whim of the two parties, neither one of which purports to speak for the individual but rather for the benefit of those who control each party’s treasuries.
Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people who make up these parties to alter or abolish them and to institute new political parties that seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
The history of the present political parties is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over those citizens they claim to represent. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
The parties in question too often represent only those who favor them with funds at election periods, thus incurring a special status that serves to make the common individual’s voice grow quiet and then mute.
The parties in question have refused to enact laws of immediate and pressing importance, laws that are of principal interest and need of the governed.
The parties in question have refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the Congress, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only, while favoring those enriched by illegal commerce.
The parties in question have endeavored to prevent the population of these States, altering the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass laws to discourage illegal migration and raising the conditions of the use and new appropriation of lands.
The parties in question have obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing their assent to laws for establishing necessary judicial powers. They have also made judges dependent on their will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
The parties in question have erected a multitude of offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat on their substance.
The parties in question have kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures. They have agreed to treaties that served neither the general public nor the individual citizen.
The parities in question have imposed taxes on us without our consent.
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.
We, therefore, the representatives of the people of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all political party allegiances.
And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. Let neither the voice nor the will of the people be diminished.