A Violation of Contract

    On September 28, 1787 fifty-five delegates from the states, after several months of deliberation, presented a wholly new form of government to the states and the people for their consideration.   The purpose of this government was outlined in the preamble:

“We, the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

     This was the culmination of the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

“..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 a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such forms, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

    “We the people” of the several states had agreed to form a government for a specific purpose. Any such government formed with the “consent of the governed” is now an entity in and of itself and it has a contract with the people. The people contract with this entity, relinquishing some part of their liberty and money, for the purposes of accomplishing ends they cannot achieve individually. Regardless of what President Lincoln said about the government being “of the people, by the people and for the people”, the government, once formed, is an entity in and of itself, just like a corporation, an “individual” separate from the actual people that make it up. However, in a democracy or representative republic, the rights of the people under the contract become obscured because we feel we are part of the government that it is “of the people” because we elect the people that run it. If those people become despotic and trample on our liberty or steal our money, we are more inclined to accept it because in some sense, we voted for it. This is not how we should think of it, however.

    Instead of a representative republic, let’s say that we had set up an absolute ruler for life. We eliminated any elected officials and set up a king to make our decisions and applied all the constitutional limits, including the bill of rights, to this king. What we would have done was make a contract with an individual rather than a corporation of elected officials. We would have given him specific powers and expected him to perform according to the terms of the contract. If he violated that contract, stealing money for purposes not in the contract, restricting liberties guaranteed under the bill of rights, acting with favoritism and refusing to protect the people, we would consider that king in violation of the contract and we would be well within our rights to remove him and replace him with either another individual or a new system that we believe would be more effective in performing our stated desires.

    Of course, we do not have a king, at least not yet. We have a group of elected representatives who are supposed to run the government in ways that fulfill the purposes of the contract. If we elect someone who seeks power not provided for in the contract or who supports policies that will be detrimental to the stated purposes of the contract, we can remove them through election or impeachment. It is like getting ready to eat an apple and finding a bruise on one side. You can cut out the bad part and the apple is still good. However, if the whole apple is rotten, there is no saving it. Our government is rotten to the core, we have a systemic problem in which the specific terms of the contract as well as its stated purpose are violated as the rule rather than the exception. The vast majority of the people in the Federal Government, both elected and appointed, who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, routinely ignore both its letter and spirit. That being the case, “we the people” are justified in responding to those violations. It is our right and duty, considering our posterity, to “alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government.” 

      Although the essays that follow will detail these violations, allow me a summary. The purpose of the contract was to “establish a more perfect Union.” A union of what? Sovereign states who had sent representatives to the convention to better insure their cooperation as a national confederation. These states have become, for all intents and purposes, simply political extensions of the Federal Government, which is the complete opposite of the original intent. While within the first century of our history, the states theoretically had the right to withdrawal if they found their sovereignty threatened, the Federal Government under President Lincoln decided they no longer had that right. States, like individuals, that are forcibly restrained lose their ultimate right of self determination and have liberty only at the behest of the ruler. God given rights have become state given rights.

     “Establish Justice.” Is there any justice in a country where those with the best paid lawyers or connections can get away with anything? Where those who are entrusted with the power of government operate above the law? Where rules and regulations are used to destroy those who threaten the power structure while those within that power structure ignore them with impunity? Where individuals and groups are afforded privileged status not through merit but heredity? The equal application of the law is the hallmark of a just society and is our only protection from the tyranny of man.

    “Insure domestic Tranquility.” The purpose of government is to create an environment where the people can prosper in peace. This requires sound economic policy. As Thomas Jefferson said, government “should not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” The adoption of heavy taxes and policies that disincentive productivity are one thing. Placing upon us debts we have no hope of repaying and destroying our currency is another. There will be no domestic tranquility when the dollar collapses, the economy really goes in the toilet and people have trouble providing for their basic needs. These policies are criminal and put us in grave danger.

     “Provide for the common defense.” We have the greatest military the world has ever seen but we hamper it with politically correct rules and regulations that make it impotent, and have done so since the Vietnam War. If we are not willing to do what is necessary to destroy the enemy, we will lose any conflict. To make this worse, we now have an administration whose policy it is to coddle terrorists, cozy up to brutal dictators and allow our monetary policy and energy resources to be held hostage by countries who do not have our best interests at heart. Add to that a decades long dereliction of duty in the enforcement of our borders and we have a government that has put us at risk economically and physically. This is the most fundamental function of government, our common protection, and to expose the people of this country to harm through neglect or active policy is the height of irresponsibility.

     “Promote the general Welfare.” This does not mean to create a welfare state! This is to guarantee our right to the “pursuit of happiness.” We should be able to pursue our desires and dreams on a level playing field unencumbered by onerous taxes and regulation. The more government gets involved, the less level the playing field and the more of our wealth they confiscate. Socialist democracies have found very creative ways to wring more and more money out of their people and ours is no different. Politicians who believe they need to protect us from ourselves have passed the most restrictive and absurd regulations. Government is responsible for maintaining a fair and just system and we are responsible for our actions within it. Our government believes it is responsible for us, protecting us from our own failure and stupidity while punishing our success. This is not freedom.

     “Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Will our children be free when they suffer the consequences of our crushing debt? Will we be free when the President, through his communist underlings, silences dissent in the media? Will we be free to live as we want, eat what we want, live where we want, when the government decides what is good for us and what areas are environmentally acceptable? Patrick Henry said that “Liberty ought to be the direct end of your government.” Our liberty, and that of our children, is the last thing on this government’s mind.

    When the people agree to form a government they need to be vigilant to ensure that the terms of the contract are met. We have not been. We have had times when we traded freedom for security. There have been times we have allowed government power to protect the greed of special interests. We have submitted to pressure to do things “for the children” that have done nothing but ensure their slavery.   When we start to use government as a means to ends not within the parameters of the contract, there is no stopping it. The person that uses it one day may find it used against him in the next. As each new interest adds another layer of complexity and power, government grows and grows until it no longer becomes responsive to “we the people” but only to itself and the perpetuation of its power. Once that happens, the contract becomes null and void and it is time to start over.   

Patrick Samuels

www.patricksamuels.com

Declaration of Independence

     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 nations of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which lead them to separation.

     We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, Property, 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, abolish or withdrawal from it and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing and limiting its powers in such a form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness, and secure their Liberty. 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 a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right and Duty to throw off such a government and to provide new Guards for their future security.   Such has been the patient suffering of the citizens of the United States of America in the State of ________ ; and such is now the necessity which constrains us to withdraw from from our voluntary association with the other states and the Federal Government of the United States of America. The History of the Federal Government for more than a century has been one of continual and flagrant violation of the compact under which we agreed to live in unity as united states and through usurpations and injuries, it has reduced the liberty of individuals and the sovereignty of the states with the direct object of establishing an absolute tyranny. To prove this, let these Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The national government, through word, law, and regulation, has made war on the free market system, private property and individual liberty, that have historically been the foundation of this nation and responsible for its strength and prosperity.

The congress has voluntarily relinquished its responsibility for drafting or even reviewing the legislation it passes, outsourcing the legislative process to special interest groups that have agendas often at odds with the well being of the citizens and the nation as a whole.

The congress has routinely written laws in ways that are unclear, or obscure their true intent, leaving their interpretation open to a variety of abuses, removing the protection of the law and exposing us to the tyranny of men.

The national government has refused to assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good, and has substituted laws and regulations that are injurious to the welfare and prosperity of the people.

The national government has burdened us with debts and obligations far beyond our ability to repay.

The members of congress and the administration have refused to be held accountable for illegal and criminal actions, setting themselves above the laws they have imposed upon the people.

The national government has multiplied departments and offices with the complicity or negligent consent of congress and has allowed these offices to multiply statutes and regulations that have the force of law with no input from the representatives of the people and no opportunity for redress. These new offices have done little more than send swarms of new officials to harass the people and eat their substance.

The national government has refused to secure the borders of the United States from those who desire to do injury to its citizens and institutions.

The national government is seeking to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws and traditions.   Through treaties and obligations to the United Nations, it has sought to undermine the sovereignty of the citizens of this state and nation, and in so doing place us under an authority wholly unaccountable to us.

The national government has sought to bring suit against those whose duty is to protect us from foreign invasion and attack, trying them for acts not criminal under previous administrations nor according to the dictates of common sense. 

The national government has used and misused the military forces of the United States, imposing rules and regulations upon them detrimental to their stated mission and purpose. Such actions unnecessarily jeopardize the lives of those who serve in the armed forces and emboldens the enemies that desire to do us harm.

The executive branch has embarked upon a course of foreign policy that serves only to anger our staunchest allies and strengthen our enemies.   It has also long pursued a course of action that has placed the acquisition of our most crucial resources dependent upon the whims of our enemies while unnecessarily restricting the development of those same resources domestically.

The national government has infringed on our right to adequately protect ourselves as we see fit as guaranteed under the Constitution.

The national government has forbidden the governors and legislators of the many states discretion in their affairs and has imposed burdensome regulations upon them while refusing to provide the means for their implementation.

The national government has by law codified discrimination, setting one class of citizens over another, when the other has been responsible for no wrong or injury to the priviledged class.

The national government, through word and statute, has shown contempt for the religious tradition largely responsible for the foundations of this nation and its system of law and justice, and embraced by the vast majority of its citizens, while tolerating and supporting religious traditions that lead to the degradation of society or seek to inflict physical harm upon the people and their institutions.

The national government, through regulation and statute, has made continual efforts to dilute the cohesive nature of our common language and culture.

The national government through legislation, treaty and judicial fiat, has continually eroded the privileges and responsibilities inherent within the family, seeking to substitute itself as the primary educator and caregiver of succeeding generations.

The national government has used the courts to impose upon its citizens policy they would never have agreed to through their elected representatives. Those same courts have nullified referenda legitimately passed by the people of the states in their effort to reestablish some degree of control over their various destinies.

The national government had abrogated its responsibility for monetary policy, entrusting it to unelected officers, and has cooperated with their institution, adopting policies that will lead to the destruction of the national currency.

The national government has imposed a system of taxation that in in inherently unjust, placing heavy burdens on some while exempting others. Coupled with this system is a structure of subsidy in which wealth is taken from one citizen and given to another. Such a system destroys the motivation for productive enterprise within the one who is forced to give and the recipient.

The national government has imposed a code of taxation of such complexity it perplexes even those whose are tasked with its enforcement, and provides an easy pretext for the government to find wrongdoing among its citizens.

The national government has abused its taxing authority, requiring payment not only for privildged endeavors but for the exercise of our fundamental rights, reducing us to mere servitude.

The national government has stated its intention to develop a domestic security force with powers equal to the military and accountable only to itself. The purpose and targets of this force have not been made clear.

The national government has intimidated and coerced private businesses and financial institutions into accepting regulation and domination by the national government.

The national parties, in order to maintain their power, have used the law, intimidation and outright fraud to ensure their continual appointment, making a mockery of the electoral process.

The executive branch, without the required consent of the legislature, has taken upon itself the power to make war and peace, suspend at times the right of habeas corpus, utilize the treasury and impose regulations and orders with the force and penalty of law.

The national government has detained and murdered its citizens without due process or just compensation for the exercise of their rights under the compact of the Constitution or as a consequence of their ancestry.

The national government has appropriated for itself the power to confiscate the property of its citizens for any use whatsoever, without just compensation.

The national government has made repeated attempts to intimidate those who oppose its growing power through the exercise of their rights under the Constitution. It has labeled them traitors and has sought to use the power of the government and its agencies to silence them.

     In every stage of these oppressions we have sought to petition our government in the most humble and orderly terms. Our petitions have been answered only by ridicule and repeated injury. A government whose character is thus marked by every act a tyranny, is unfit to govern a free people.

      Therefore, in the interests of preserving the ideals and principles that made America the most free and prosperous nation in the world before they are completely obliterated by the totalitarian policies adopted by the National Government of the United States of America, And in order to insulate ourselves and our posterity from the disastrous results of the economic and moral policies long adopted by said government, we, the representatives of the people of the Sovereign State of___________ and by their authority, do hereby relinquish all ties to the United States of America, Absolve ourselves of all allegiance to the same and dissolve all political connections, responsibilities and privileges of that union, and take our place among the free and sovereign nations of the world with all the rights and responsibilities of an independent state.   We do so appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions and relying on the Protection and Wisdom of Divine Providence. We the Undersigned, do hereby pledge to one another our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor in support of this Declaration.

Patrick Samuels

author of “Memoirs of a Former American”

www.patricksamuels.com  

Does any state have the guts for this?

Even if the reader does not agree with the idea of secession, it is my hope that this compilation of abuses by out government will motivate the citizens of this great country to stand up and resist this rapidly evolving tyranny.