The Declaration of Independence Gives Us The Right To Abolish Our Current Government
We must find nonviolent ways to end this tyrant's reign of terror before more people lose their lives and liberty
The first sentence of the Declaration of Independence is well-known: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Less familiar but no less important are statements like these:
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 or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, 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. (emphasis mine)
The Declaration also says that “when a long train of abuses and usurpations … evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
It cites repeated abuses by Great Britain’s king to justify throwing off his government that include:
Refusing his assent to laws “necessary for the public good”
“Transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences”
Sending “swarms of Officers to harass our people”
The Declaration’s authors conclude that a man “whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
Trump and his administration are guilty of those and other offenses. Residents have been illegally deported to a prison in El Salvador in defiance of court orders. A U.S. citizen who was wrongfully detained narrowly avoided deportation to Jamaica. Elected officials have been detained and arrested for questioning the actions of ICE agents. Congresswoman LaMonica McIver has been criminally indicted by a federal grand jury.
Trump sent National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests against ICE raids there. Marines who thought a veteran was a protester ziptied his wrists and detained him. On June 26, U.S. citizen Andrea Velez was arrested; witnesses said ICE agents never asked her for identification and she had done nothing wrong.
Our current government is also responsible for preventable deaths in our country and others. As of June, there were 1227 confirmed measles cases nationwide, 148 people had been hospitalized, and three people (all unvaccinated) had died. A CDC update said increasing vaccine coverage was “essential.”
But U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in April that “many” parents have reported that their kid “developed autism immediately” after getting the MMR vaccine. In June, he fired all CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices members and appointed new ones, including several vaccine critics.
USAID funding cuts are responsible for many other preventable deaths. An “impact metrics dashboard” created by an infectious disease modeler and her research team estimates this administration’s drastic cuts to USAID funding have already caused roughly 120,000 adult and 250,000 child deaths.
And Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which he gleefully signed into law today and called “a triumph of democracy on the birthday of democracy” includes massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. Those cuts will cause thousands of preventable deaths; estimates of how many people will die annually range from 8,600 - 51,000.
The callous disregard for life and liberty evident in the actions of Trump, his cabinet members, Republican Congress members willing to endanger their constituents to do Trump’s bidding, and others who carry out Trump’s orders proves that Trump is a tyrant unfit to be our ruler.
The Declaration of Independence gives us the right and duty to institute a new government. It’s time to discuss how to do that and what form of government would be “most likely to affect our safety and happiness.”
I am NOT advocating for violence against Trump (or anyone else). History has repeatedly shown that organized, widespread non-violent civil disobedience is far more effective. See multiple examples here.
Nor am I suggesting a return to our form of government prior to the current administration. Our government was dysfunctional, corrupt, and destructive to the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the vast majority of citizens long before Trump took office. We need a government that is truly “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” I believe we can form that kind of government if enough of us are willing to take the risks and do the hard work necessary to create it.
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