Documents of America

From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution:

What the hell happened?

Part 1, The 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 Powers of the

Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the

Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,

a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind

requires that they should declare the causes which

impel them to the separation."

1st paragraph of the Declaration of Independence

4 July 1776

During this portion of the essays I will be covering the Declaration of Independence solely and specifically as there are too many important points made in each document to cover in a manner that would provide enough information without overwhelming you the reader. Part 2 will cover the United Stated Constitution, hopefully without encountering similar problems. 

Shall we begin? 

If your answer is no then you need to stop reading now and move along to some topic that is less hurtful to your sensitive feelers.

Let's step into the way-back machine and deliver ourselves figuratively back to the year 1971, yes, that's right, back to the days of Nixon, Hippies and the Vietnam war. In that same era an event was on the horizon that would mark the then greatest day in American History. In five years America as we knew it would turn 200 years old. Happy birthday old girl.

As part of the run-up to this major event schools in my neck of the woods began actually teaching us about the 3 founding documents of our then great nation. First was the original document that would declare America's independence from an over reaching monarchy in England, this lasted for one semester. Second was the short trip we took down forgotten memory lane and spent studying the Articles of Confederation.  This in essence was the first white government actually in America, this course of study lasted for about the next 3 weeks, only a slightly longer period than this particular form of government; and was followed shortly thereafter by the study of our current and best basis for the federal government whose study would last for most of the next 5 years until the actual day of Independence 4 July 1976.

Of course this was back when history was an important part of what was taught in our schools as a means of educating future leaders to the fact that if you failed to study and learn from history, you would be doomed to repeat it. 

But I digress: I remember the first time I ever sat down and actually read the Declaration of Independence, I read it then with the mind of a young man in his formative years, not as one of the adults who then wrote it or those who now are assigned the task of interpreting it.

As I first read it then, and have continued to believe for these past 50 years; when the phrase stating without any equivocation that all men are created equally in the eyes of God, and as such we have certain rights that cannot and should not be taken from us! These rights are to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. Where did all of this disappear to?

According to the writers of the Declaration it was plainly expressed that the power of the government does and should flow from the citizenry of the nation to those whom are elected by us. NOT the reverse! Should this government ever exceed it authority "It is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute new government." This particular action is one that should never be taken lightly.

John Adams, Americas 2nd President is quoted as saying the following:

"I fear that in every elected office, members will obtain an influence

by noise, not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not

learning. By contracted hearts, not by large souls... There must be 

decency and respect."

Sound familiar to anyone? It should it is happening even now, and right under our very noses if we choose to see the truth!

WELL, here we are right back where it all started.

A mere fifty years later we are back to being oppressed by government, only this time it is one misguided political party which has chosen to following an elected official as if he was the second coming; not the one individual leading the charge to step on the basic human rights of everyone. Sadly this state of affairs exists in America today. The party of trump appears to be hell bent on tearing America apart, Roe v. Wade is in more jeopardy today than it has ever been since the supreme court ruled in favor of abortion.

We already have the "Don't say gay law" in Florida. If the highest court in the land overturns The Roe decision there are more than half of all states have trigger laws which would completely ban all abortions, even in the case of rape/incest and health risk to the mother or unborn fetus. Still others are working on bills that will criminalize abortion to the extent of what, a capital offense? I contend that healthcare needs should be set and maintained by the individuals who are directly involved, not the government, at any level.

Likewise, telling the citizens whom they can and cannot fall in love with should never happen. This is a matter of the heart and morality, and if nothing else in governance should have been learned by now, you CANNOT legislate morality. Telling someone whom they can fall in love with is hypocrisy! Did anyone in your life tell you that you can't fall in love with a certain person because of religion, color, ethnic or cultural? If they ever did what was your reaction? Did you take a risk and fall in love anyway? Were you a good little person and take it on faith that it was wrong?

This to me smacks of the same brand of tyranny that was imposed upon the colonist which led to the Declaration of Independence. Government should not be telling us how to run our lives to their satisfaction, again this is the exact opposite of how this nation was designed to work. Just my opinion.

With the course of events in this nation now it would not surprise me that the with which the erosion of the rights of our fellow citizens of any type not only continues, but speeds up incrementally over the next election cycles.

Believe me when I say that I hope to be proven wrong, but I find that to be highly unlikely. Only time will tell.

Thank you and good night. Peace.