George Washington (fragments of the Draft First Inaugural Address, April 1789)
“The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an
eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may
be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some
instances be made subservient to the vilest purposes. Should,
hereafter, those incited by the lust of power and prompted by
the Supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the
known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable
rights of humanity: it will only serve to shew, that no compact
among men (however provident in its construction and sacred in
its ratification) can be pronounced everlasting an inviolable,
and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no
mound of parchm[en]t can be so formed as to stand against the
sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the side, aided by the
sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.”
Declaration Of Independence
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
Presented by the Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
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.
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. --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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, 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, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives 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 the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Memorial Day
Soldier, rest, thy warfare o’er,
Dream of fighting fields no more.
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.Sir Walter Scott
Where In The World Are You?
Our Real History
In 1777, John Jay told an Ulster County Grand Jury:
“The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favoured with an opportunity of...choosing the forms of government under which they should live.”
Read the rest....to see just how much damage has been done to the real history of this country.
Founders’ Quote
“If a well-regulated militia be the most natural defense of a free
country, it ought certainly to be under the regulation and at the
disposal of that body which is constituted the guardian of the
national security. If standing armies are dangerous to liberty,
an efficacious power over the militia in the same body ought,
as far as possible, to take away the inducement and the pretext
to such unfriendly institutions. If the federal government can
command the aid of the militia in those emergencies which call
for the military arm in support of the civil magistrate, it can
the better dispense with the employment of a different kind of
force. If it cannot avail itself of the former, it will be obliged
to recur to the latter. To render an army unnecessary will be a
more certain method of preventing its existence than a thousand
prohibitions upon paper.”-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 29, 10 January 1788)
Reference: Hamilton, Federalist No. 29.
Mothers Day
100th Anniversary of Mother’s Day in the U.S.
Although historians can trace the history of celebrating motherhood or the mother diety to as early as the Goddess Isis in Egypt, Mother’s Day in the United States as we know it is the work of one very determined woman. The fascinating historical look about Mother’s Day celebrations, found at Mother’s Day Central, is packed full of interesting information and well worth a look.
The Real Nazis
“I have nothing against the Jews, but neither did Jesus Christ, yet still they crucified Him.”
So says Marko Perković of the Croatian band Thompson.
Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today expressed its sense of outrage and disgust in the wake of a massive show of fascist salutes, symbols and uniforms at a rock concert by popular ultra-nationalist Croatian singer “Thompson” attended by 60,000 people in Zagreb last night. In a letter sent today to Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff noted the presence of Croatian dignities, including the Minister of Science, Education and Sports, at the event and called for the banning of concerts by singers like Thompson who glorify fascism and racism.
According to Zuroff:
“According to the Croatian media, the concert turned into a massive fascist demonstration with tens of thousands of people shouting the infamous Ustasha salute of “Za dom spremni.” In addition,… numerous participants came wearing Ustasha uniforms and symbols. To make matters worse, in attendance last night were officials and members of Parliament, as well as the Minister of Science, Education [!!] and Sports.
“Under the current circumstances, I believe that the time has come to prohibit public concerts by those who write songs of nostalgia for Jasenovac and inspire the show of Ustasha symbols, which constitute open and blatant incitement against all the minorities in Croatia.
“I believe that only if someone of your stature and outstanding anti-fascist credentials will lead the efforts to combat this ugly wave of revived fascism, can this extremely dangerous new trend be stopped before it engulfs Croatia.”
Via 1389 Blog.
Nazi Boy Scouts
Or, how the some anti-jihad blogs became the enemy.
I can’t see into Filip Dewinter’s heart. Perhaps he hates Jews, but finds it expedient to court them. Perhaps he used to feel differently in his youth, but has outgrown such a position, just as Robert Byrd has with respect to the KKK.
Or perhaps he has never felt any antipathy to the Jews.
In any case, I take Christ’s words to heart: “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
By their fruits, Filip Dewinter and Vlaams Belang are not anti-Semitic.
As for the demand that he repudiate his alleged past: why is the above not a sufficient repudiation? Why would he need to grovel before certain Americans who know virtually nothing about him or Flanders?
This is the quintessence of arrogance. Filip Dewinter is not going to repudiate anything based on our demands. He is not aware of our demands, and would consider them impertinent and irrelevant to his cause if he were aware of them.
Why would he need to dance to our tune in the first place? What good would it do him to abase himself before the American gods of PC?
O, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul!
Via GoV.
GOV on The Transatlantic Mystery
Dymphna tackles the understanding or lack of between America and Europe.
I don’t think America understands Europe very well. The closest we come is in the South, where bitter memory dies hard.
But I disagree that Europeans somehow understand us — that kind of hubris is what makes Americans turn away. Perhaps Europeans who have spent many years here, who have raised children here… they might, but even then it’s sketchy knowledge at best.
Don’t miss the comments.
Fine, I need to sublimate. I’m stark raving mad, but it’s not about me. If America’s premiere anti-Islamic site can unlink from the many fine minds and questing spirits here at GOV, a place which practices near absolute freedom of thought, and I mean thoughtful thought and not echo-chamber thought… well that says something. Because Johnson is hip, he’s literally jazzy, and he’s got Frank Zappa quotes. He’s very much American, imbued with your own God-Bless-America, e pluribus unum, spirit and for him GOV has suddenly become a crappy white-supremacy supporting, Fascio-Nazi-leaning pack of benighted fools.
He kicked GOV out… the way I was kicked out of KOS a couple of years back (though to get in a good five posts I pretended to be a foreign female, ex-Junkie who had just had an abortion… and by golly it worked!)
So obviously there’s a misunderstanding. There is indeed - as Chesterton (my favorite thinker) wrote, something of a religion, a creed driving the USA, one that allows for the ex-communication not only of real zieg-heiling Nazis in jackboots, but of Dymphnas and Barons and Conservative Swedes.
As none of the people involved are fools, there’s evidently a huge, whopping difference of values involved, a Weltanschaung.
Probably it’s because systems, constitutions shouldn’t ever become creeds in the first place. Probably it’s because church and state should be separated not just on paper, but in the hearts of the citizens, even if they’re all of the same faith, thereby releasing them from the need to continually state an reiterate their enormous gratitude for being Americans (intsead of simply for being alive even if on life support in an Albanian hospital) and for thinking she is the alfa and omega, when only God is… and there are dozens of nations with very similar constitutions. What it used to mean to be uniquely American was among other considerations, what Jason_Pappas said: a nation of self-reliance, independent, and proud people. America was the only country where even in the twenties, cops were often and easily the bad guys. It is cultural and community America that matters: cities, regions, states. High principles and rationalism can destroy culture. High principles and rationalism is what is sending droves of Brits out of UK. Glorious UK, wonderful God-shave-the-queen UK, which you love because their shopkeepers are so patient, their humor is so rich, UK the inventor of nonsense and fairplay, of unarmed Bobbies… and now 1 surveillance camera every 13 people UK.
I am embittered with constitutions, inalieable rights, pursuits of happiness and wow-wee freedoms. Without content, actual content, without virtue, actual virtue, it’s all a lot of talk.
There is another man, a non-political man. No doubt our splendid countries have the best health care systems in the world… but if you faint out in the middle of the street, you can also factor into the healthcare system the likelihood of a perfect stranger bending down to succor you, instead of swiftly walking by to enjoy his inalieble human rights. My brother was beaten up by a motorcycle gang and left languishing on the side of the road for over half an hour before a Guatemalen immigrant woman finally stopped to help him. This and worse, happens everywhere, not just in the USA. Women get molested and raped on metros and people go on blithely reading their liberty-of-speech newspapers.
Freedom is a blank page. Real freedom is virtue. It’s 9 year old kids being able to buy wine, because it’s culturally nigh unto impossible that he will drink it himself, and culturally near certain that he’s only buying it for his daddy. It’s what makes laws and legislation unnecessary.
You can have the finest constitution in the world and you can revere your finding fathers like Saint Anthony and Mother Cabrini, but underneath it all, there is an ethos. Screw that up, lose the virtues, and even the USA, the land whose populace believes it was stroked by the Deist magic wand, can lose it (as she is losing it in her universities as we speak).
But Magic Johnson of LGF doesn’t know this. His country is still young and vibrant (in the making) and lots of his people still go to church. He knows little of the self-inflicted despair of the Europeans. Sure it gets ugly here. There is no religion anymore and there’s no make-believe creed with hallowed founding fathers. Europe ain’t America. Great freedoms and great ideals and prohibitions against calling anyone “Chink” are all in place and have been for quite some time. Yet UK is spilling out and so too is Holland.
The answer is Christendom, Orthodoxy, Dogma… oppression. Positive love of ones culture, history, ways. And yes, there will be hooligans on your team… just as there was Stalin on the allied team against the Nazis and Fascists. Hooligans like Dymphna and the Baron.
10/30/2007 10:21 AM