Imagine living in a country where armed soldiers crash through doors to arrest and imprison citizens merely for criticizing government officials.
Imagine that in this very same country, you’re watched all the time, and if you look even a little bit suspicious, the police stop and frisk you or pull you over to search you on the off chance you’re doing something illegal.
Keep in mind that if you have a firearm of any kind while in this country, it may get you arrested and, in some circumstances, shot by police.
If you’re thinking this sounds like America today, you wouldn’t be far wrong.
However, the scenario described above took place more than 200 years ago, when American colonists suffered under Great Britain’s version of an early police state. It was only when the colonists finally got fed up with being silenced, censored, searched, frisked, threatened, and arrested that they finally revolted against the tyrant’s fetters.
No document better states their grievances than the Declaration of Independence, which seethes with outrage over a government which had betrayed its citizens.
We could use a little of that outrage today.
Indeed, read the Declaration of Independence and ask yourself if the abuses suffered by early Americans at the hands of the British police state don’t bear a startling resemblance to the abuses “we the people” are suffering at the hands of the American police state.
If you find the purple prose used by the Founders hard to decipher, here’s my take on what the Declaration of Independence would look and sound like if it were written in the modern vernacular:
• There comes a time when a populace must stand united and say “enough is enough” to the government’s abuses, even if it means getting rid of the political parties in power.
• All people possess certain innate rights that no government or agency or individual can take away from them. Among these are the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
• The government’s job is to protect the people’s innate rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The government’s power comes from the will of the people.
• It is not wise to get rid of a government for minor transgressions. However, when the people have been subjected to repeated abuses and power grabs, carried out with the purpose of establishing a tyrannical government, people have a right and duty to do away with that tyrannical government and to replace it with a new government that will protect and preserve their innate rights for their future wellbeing.
• This is exactly the state of affairs we are under suffering under right now.
• The history of the present Imperial Government is a history of repeated abuses and power grabs, carried out with the intention of establishing absolute Tyranny over the country.
• To prove this, consider the following:
• The government has, through its own negligence and arrogance, refused to adopt urgent and necessary laws for the good of the people.
• In order to expand its power and bring about compliance with its dictates, the government has made it nearly impossible for the people to make their views and needs heard by their representatives.
• The government repeatedly has suppressed protests arising in response to its actions.
• The government has allowed its agents to harass the people and steal from them.
• The government has directed militarized government agents, a standing army, to police domestic affairs in peacetime.
• The government has turned the country into a militarized police state.
• The government has conspired to undermine the rule of law and the constitution in order to expand its own powers.
• The government has allowed its militarized police to invade our homes.
• The government has failed to hold its agents accountable for wrongdoing and murder.
• The government has jeopardized our international trade agreements.
• The government has taxed us without our permission.
• The government has denied us due process and the right to a fair trial.
• The government has engaged in extraordinary rendition.
• The government has continued to expand its military empire and occupy foreign nations.
• The government has eroded fundamental legal protections and destabilized the structure of government.
• The government has declared its federal powers superior to those of the states.
• The government has ceased to protect the people and instead waged war against the people.
• The government has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of the people.
• The government has employed private contractors and mercenaries to carry out acts of death, desolation, and tyranny, totally unworthy of a civilized nation.
• The government has pitted its citizens against each other.
• The government has stirred up civil unrest and laid the groundwork for martial law.
• Repeatedly, we have asked the government to cease its abuses. Each time, the government has responded with more abuse.
• An imperial ruler who acts like a tyrant is not fit to govern a free people.
• We repeatedly have sounded the alarm to our fellow citizens about the government’s abuses. We have warned them about the government’s power grabs. We have appealed to their sense of justice. We have reminded them of our common bonds.
• They have rejected our plea for justice and brotherhood. They are equally at fault for the injustices being carried out by the government.
• Thus, for the reasons mentioned above, we the people of the United States of America declare ourselves free from the chains of an abusive government. Relying on God’s protection, we pledge to stand by this Declaration of Independence with our lives, our fortunes and our honor.
That was 242 years ago.
In the years since early Americans first declared and eventually won their independence from Great Britain, we, the descendants of those revolutionary patriots, somehow have managed to work ourselves right back under the tyrant’s thumb.
Only this time, I make clear in my book, “Battlefield America: The War on the American People,” the tyrant is one of our own making: The U.S. government.
There is no knowing how long it will take to undo the damage wrought by government corruption, corporate greed, militarization, and a nation of apathetic, gullible sheep.
Frankly, we may see no relief from the police state in my lifetime or for several generations to come. That does not mean we should give up or give in or tune out.
Remember, there is always a price to be paid for remaining silent in the face of injustice.
That price is tyranny.
—The Rutherford Institute