This weekend, we celebrate that sacred day in 1776, when our courageous and brilliant Founding Fathers led a ragtag new nation in declaring independence from tyranny. That declaration led, of course, to the creation of the greatest governing document the world has ever known, the United States Constitution. But it all began over two centuries ago, on that hot summer day in Philadelphia. As we celebrate our liberty this weekend, keep in mind the lyrical and beautiful words of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:
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...
[...]
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 Brittish 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 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.
Our government has become what the Founders fought against...
Posted by: .LongRifle | July 01, 2011 at 01:19 PM
You may not like everyone representing you, but you are represented. The problem the Founders had was that the British Parliament was levying taxes against them, and they had no one in that body to speak for the Colonies.
Posted by: FK | July 01, 2011 at 02:15 PM
GOP is strategically trying to take the rights of the people away to support their selfish self-interests; namely the rich and the corporations.
This isn't a conspiracy theory or an "opinion". It is happening right now.
Posted by: RafeMasters_76 | July 01, 2011 at 02:30 PM
"You may not like everyone representing you, but you are represented."
FK
No one is representing me. They represent the people who buy them.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 01, 2011 at 02:38 PM
that's correct longrifle, we apparently are NOT a special interest group...................INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES are not considered a special interest to those "representatives" that constantly troll for voting blocks............
STOP THE INSANITY 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 02:52 PM
Then your concerns are different than the Founding Fathers'. They were completely unrepresented in Parliament. You are represented, but are concerned with special interests having too much control over who gets elected.
Posted by: FK | July 01, 2011 at 03:13 PM
FK,
While I may have a Representative, Special interests will have complete control over who gets elected from now on. The SCOTUS ruled that Corporations have the same rights as individuals in free speech and campaign contributions to sway the results of elections. This changes the landscape and opens a new Pandora's box of Rule-by-the Rich "democracy".
I will only be represented if my views happen to agree with some Special interest groups' choice of candidate.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 01, 2011 at 03:35 PM
when was the last time INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES were represented? about the time the document was crafted, when the framers weren't beholden to special interest groups or consortiums, I suspect.........imo about the only representative we have supporting the founding fathers document regarding AN INDIVIDUALS' RIGHTS & LIBERTIES, is Ron Paul..............
as well, I suspect the writing style of fk is of another one who "posts" here..........
done with fk..............
THOSE WHO DO NOT SUPPORT INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES DESERVE NOTHING...................
NO ENTITLEDS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 03:47 PM
Here's something for our PC crowd...:
This morning, Drudge posted a story about a five-year old boy who shot a four-year old boy at a playground in MD.
When the readers cottoned-on to the notion that he was black (not noted in the story, of course) and started posting accordingly, the story was pulled.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 01, 2011 at 04:02 PM
has our fearless leader & our "representatives" come up with a budget YET, or have they left Washington, to go home & enjoy "FREEDOM".......so much for our "representation"...........
NO ENTITLEDS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:05 PM
no it is no longer politically correct to report the FACTS...................we have to be sensitive to peoples feelings sans the victims of course........
GIVE US A LOVER OF FREEDOM 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:08 PM
speaking of "representation" a "representative" confused by those who would do the peoples' will.......
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/07/a_dangerous_point_of_viewindeed.html
THROW THE BUMS OUT 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:13 PM
So what's the solution then? Allow the Republicans to take over? How will they help us when all they care about are supporting the Rich.
Posted by: RafeMasters_76 | July 01, 2011 at 04:15 PM
a little appropriate Dylan for lovers of individual freedoms..........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RPkJeziNyI&feature=related
THROW THE BUMS OUT 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:17 PM
read this if you give a sh!t about the "two party" SYSTEM........
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/07/a_dangerous_point_of_viewindeed.html
ELECT INDEPENDENT THINKERS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:20 PM
another pt. of view, if you will........................
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/07/obama_says_no_to_meet_with_mcconnell_gop_senators.html
NO BLOWHARDS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:21 PM
For Western civilisation the Virginian Thomas Jefferson was a remarkable author, statesman, Governor, President, inventor, architect, horseman, musician, father, American envoy in Paris and political philosopher.
For the socialists and the mobs whose minds they have colonized, Thomas Jefferson is first and foremost a dead white man who owned slaves.
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 05:08 PM
Gman, what do they think of Lincoln?
FREE YOUR MIND 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 05:24 PM
"Our government has become what the Founders fought against..." - longrifle
Inaccurate. HALF of the government (the right) has become what the Founders fought against: the rich aristocracy and their whores.
Posted by: xbjllb | July 01, 2011 at 07:26 PM
Four of the SCOTUS need to be tried for treason, convicted, and hanged on the white house lawn: Roberts, Alito, Thomas
One with piano wire like Mussolini before him: Scalia
One needs to be imprisoned for life: Kennedy
The others can then rebuild a real Supreme Court. With Ginsburg as head.
Posted by: xbjllb | July 01, 2011 at 07:40 PM
"For Western civilisation the Virginian Thomas Jefferson was a remarkable author, statesman, Governor, President, inventor, architect, horseman, musician, father, American envoy in Paris and political philosopher.
For the socialists and the mobs whose minds they have colonized, Thomas Jefferson is first and foremost a dead white man who owned slaves." - Gringoman
For head in the sand idolater "patriots" who've made a false god out of country, "Thomas Jefferson was [ONLY] a remarkable author, statesman, Governor, President, inventor, architect, horseman, musician, father, American envoy in Paris and political philosopher."
For realists, he was all the above and also happened to own slaves and father children by them.
All folks of money of his time did so; it's nothing that has to be whitewashed out of history because of the embarrassment of a few idolaters.
And there are NO "socialists and the mobs whose minds they have colonized" in the US or anywhere else outside of the USSR during the cold war.
Posted by: xbjllb | July 01, 2011 at 07:46 PM
DJ,
Maybe the pogwessive half-wits, regurgitating their 19th Century Talking Points, aren't quite the mildew minds and medicated morons they seem? TAX DA RICH! STOP THE MILITARY! SOCIALIZED MEDICINE! CRADLE TO GRAVE! Yaaaaaghghghghgh--glunk-glunk!
These pogwessives have told the American "fascists" to do like Euros do.Learn from the "Intelligent", the "sophisticated," the Big Tax society yadda-yadda-yadda=blabba, the Gimme State promoted by their fat cat socialists as their little lemmings shriek "Make da rich pay for us!" Maybe Euroland is the answer, as the Soetoros and Soros control freaks and their Liberal Wall Street banksters and Bolshie billionaires and socialist sultans like DKS say?
Maybe Americanos can learn from their "peace-loving" Euro "betters" who don't spend on military and give "tax breaks to da rich" like the US does? ---At least learn how to get ready for what's coming as the BushObama Big Nanny's knockers get Greece-ier and Greece-ier, as inploding Euroland has lived every Talking Point the leftniki are trying to ram down the Americano gullet.....
INTERNET////The following headlines provide a classic example of practical economics in action not only in Greece but also many states within the United States. They reveal an evolving story of survival and protection against present and future actions of centralized planners. The similarities between Greece within the EU and many of the states within the US union outnumber their differences. This suggests a firm possibility of similar actions occuring in the US in the coming years.
Headline: Selling gold teeth to make ends meet in Greece
A smartly dressed woman waits as a young man behind a glass screen weighs her gold earrings, bracelets and rings and counts out 1,600 euros.
"I’ll see you again soon," she says, slipping the bills into her purse. Behind her, a grey-haired man shuffles toward the counter. "Do you buy gold teeth?" he asks.
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 10:53 PM
Gman, what do they think of Lincoln?
FREE YOUR MIND 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 05:24 PM
Lincoln is a dead white man they tend to tolerate, so long as they see only half of Lincoln, i.e. the half who "freed the slaves" but not the half who wanted to repatriate the freed to the Carribean, South America or back to Africa. That part of Lincoln is not the politically correct part.
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:01 PM
RogerJStoneJr Roger Stone
Romney-Christie,Bachmann-Christie,T-Paw-Christie, McCotter-Cristie, Palin-Christie, they ALL work for for me.
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:03 PM
RogerJStoneJr Roger Stone
Manhattan DA Cy Vance, Jr, botches Cop rape case, Deutsche Bank building case, Gun-buying terrorist case and now DSK case. OY.
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:07 PM
RogerJStoneJr Roger Stone
Christie Christie line items vetos in SPECIAL INTEREST SPENDING inserted by Dems--in NJ budget-shows DEMs who they are dealing with.
3 hours ago
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:08 PM
M/M,
Is Monica abandoning too? Why haven't we heard a word from her on the historic Albany Sell-out? I haven't. Have you? Did I miss anything?
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:36 AM
__________________________
She's siding with the RINOs.
Posted by: M/M | July 01, 2011 at 11:08 PM
RogerJStoneJr Roger Stone
The only place Huntsman campaign is going is into his Trust Fund- John Huntsman, Sr, take notice.
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:09 PM
RogerJStoneJr Roger Stone
Tim Pawlenty in Fla today. Guy is so boring he dyes his Easter eggs white
30 Jun
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:14 PM
RogerJStoneJr Roger Stone
Romney running general election campaign b4 he's nominated. Ask President Nelson Rockefeller how that works out.
30 Jun
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:16 PM
gman, they probably don't much care for the republican part either.........but hey, why bother with factual details eh?
NO RINOS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 11:30 PM
While I may have a Representative, Special interests will have complete control over who gets elected from now on. The SCOTUS ruled that Corporations have the same rights as individuals in free speech and campaign contributions to sway the results of elections. This changes the landscape and opens a new Pandora's box of Rule-by-the Rich "democracy".
I will only be represented if my views happen to agree with some Special interest groups' choice of candidate.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 01, 2011 at 03:35 PM
Then, thank the Supreme Court and The Conservatives. When, the Supreme Court gave the OK for corporations to donate as much money that they want. And, The Right wing agreed with them. Then, this stopped being a ,"For the People. By the People," Nation.
It's the Conservatives that love the rich. More than they do the left.
GAO stated that 61% of the corporations donated to Right Wing Candidates.
read this if you give a sh!t about the "two party" SYSTEM........
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/07/a_dangerous_point_of_viewindeed.html
ELECT INDEPENDENT THINKERS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 04:20 PM
Don't like a 2 party system? then, there's always a Dictatorship.
Inaccurate. HALF of the government (the right) has become what the Founders fought against: the rich aristocracy and their whores.
Posted by: xbjllb | July 01, 2011 at 07:26 PM
You GOT IT! The By the people, and for the people.
Xbjllb, Noticed how those on the right love to label people? On the memo, it's everywhere!
Posted by: jay | July 01, 2011 at 11:55 PM
oh my, weiners, tax cheats & pervs oh my......
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=82474
&
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=82480
NO PERVS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 11:56 PM
The AmericanThinker website? clicked on it last time you posted it. They said that ALL government spending is a waste. Including the military. So, by THEIR thinking. No mititary is better than any.
Bet Al-queda will love that!
Posted by: jay | July 01, 2011 at 11:58 PM
oh my, weiners, tax cheats & pervs oh my......
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=82474
&
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=82480
NO PERVS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 01, 2011 at 11:56 PM
And, many conservative politicians are tax cheats and pervs, those on the memo try to deny, oh my!
Posted by: jay | July 02, 2011 at 12:10 AM
political correctness is killing US
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/how_race_gets_rubbed_out_of_the_story.html
STOP THE INSANITY 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 02, 2011 at 12:14 AM
just CHANGE the country & HOPEfully you'll get the politically incorrect pts...........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8czgIRgbEzg&feature=related
NO PERVS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 02, 2011 at 12:22 AM
Still can't give any merit to a website that feels that we shouldn't have any military. For,to them, ALL government spending is a waste.
who are they for? The United States, or Al-Queda?
From a new deal Democrat, Reagan
"When Unions and Collective Bargainging is forbidden. Then, all Freedom is lost"
Posted by: jay | July 02, 2011 at 12:22 AM
Jay,
You sure are fixated. Conservative this, right-wing that...talk about labels.
By supporting Reagan's ideas and Corrupt Unions (PC name: Collective bargaining), doesn't that make you a Conservative by definition--one who resists change?
Would you support a candidate who actually wanted to follow the Constitution? If so, who do you think that may be?
Posted by: LongRifle | July 02, 2011 at 04:05 AM
"Xbjllb, Noticed how those on the right love to label people? On the memo, it's everywhere!" - Jay
Yes, Jay. The more the radical conservatives here believe they know about the opposition, the less they actually know and the more they try to force all of the opposition into the same tight little box. This prevents them from actually thinking, which they hate more than anything else. If they thought through their positions, they would realize they espouse the impossible, like genocide.
They like to react with their "lizard" brains, the part of the mind that only knows "fight or flight". Higher functioning of the mind gets in the way of their kneejerk responses.
Some do use their higher mind, but only in the service of reinforcing their lizard flight or flight response.
But it's understandable. Our hostess has the same problem, although she's in a job where she's usually forced to think things through a bit farther then her antifan advocates here.
Posted by: xbjllb | July 02, 2011 at 06:26 AM
Conservatives don't want answers to problems; they want problems to continue to exist and they merely want to control people's reaction to those problems.
In some cases, like abortion, conservatives seek out to recreate problems that society has long done away with, like back alley butcher abortionists.
Endless war? No problem either. As long as conservatives are running it and endlessly profiting from it.
The hypocrisy is dam*ning. Literally.
Posted by: xbjllb | July 02, 2011 at 06:28 AM
"Kicking the poor does not make one a Christian. Refusing to provide aid and comfort to the suffering does not make one a patriot. Shutting down food banks, battered women's shelters, jobs programs and schools does not make one a Family Values crusader. I refuse to accept that America can not and will not defend the life and liberties of its citizens."
Posted by squeezed on Huffpo 7/2/11
Could not have stated it better.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 02, 2011 at 12:21 PM
M/M,
Is Monica abandoning too? Why haven't we heard a word from her on the historic Albany Sell-out? I haven't. Have you? Did I miss anything?
Posted by: gringoman | July 01, 2011 at 11:36 AM
__________________________
She's siding with the RINOs.
Posted by: M/M | July 01, 2011 at 11:08 PM
There! M/M said it!
Posted by: gringoman | July 02, 2011 at 12:27 PM
just CHANGE the country & HOPEfully you'll get the politically incorrect pts...........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8czgIRgbEzg&feature=related
NO PERVS 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 02, 2011 at 12:22 AM
Do you include the troll trash?
Posted by: gringoman | July 02, 2011 at 12:31 PM
HAVE A GREAT JULY 4
STARVE A TROLL
Posted by: gringoman | July 02, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Jay,
You sure are fixated. Conservative this, right-wing that...talk about labels.
By supporting Reagan's ideas and Corrupt Unions (PC name: Collective bargaining), doesn't that make you a Conservative by definition--one who resists change?
Would you support a candidate who actually wanted to follow the Constitution? If so, who do you think that may be?
Posted by: LongRifle | July 02, 2011 at 04:05 AM
Longrifle,
One just got you to take its stupid bait. A worm as bait is worm as bait is worm as bait. Our policy is to starve these bots, not to take their half-wit bait.
DON'T FEED THE TROLLS
Posted by: gringoman | July 02, 2011 at 12:38 PM
One just got you to take its stupid bait. A worm as bait is worm as bait is worm as bait. Our policy is to starve these bots, not to take their half-wit bait.
DON'T FEED THE TROLLS
Posted by: gringoman |
I don't need you to tell me who I can engage. Is this gringoman memo? In the case of ranting lunatics, I see your point, but Jay is NOT one. Censorship is too ugly, no matter which side it comes from.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 02, 2011 at 12:43 PM
"Kicking the poor does not make one a Christian. Refusing to provide aid and comfort to the suffering does not make one a patriot. Shutting down food banks, battered women's shelters, jobs programs and schools does not make one a Family Values crusader. I refuse to accept that America can not and will not defend the life and liberties of its citizens."
Posted by squeezed on Huffpo 7/2/11
Could not have stated it better.
Posted by: LongRifle | July 02, 2011 at 12:21 PM
The huffblow could not have demagogued it better. Americans have shown themselves repeatedly to be the most generous in the world in aiding the needy. The socialist creeps are still hell-bent on confusing real charity with the Big Nanny Control Freaks who will deign to show you their power and munificence by using the state to do what the Bible calls on the people to do, while their New World Order Socialists like DSK are "freed" from their $50,000 apartments in Tribeca. These creeps will even hijack Jesus Christ, who called for charity, of course, but NEVER called on the State apparatchiks to take this over. What the venal socialists can't admit is what Dostoyevsky (a socialist in his youth) saw with crystal clarity: Christianity and Jesus Christ are about the human heart, not about the state or college professors or union thugs.
Posted by: gringoman | July 02, 2011 at 12:53 PM
gman, I am trying mightly to not feed the trolls.......altho sometimes while I am eating my cake, it is hard not to give them some crumbs!....
GIVE US A LEADER 2012
Posted by: thebuckstopshere | July 02, 2011 at 01:42 PM
There! M/M said it!
Posted by: gringoman | July 02, 2011 at 12:27 PM
________________________
That's right! I said it....
Posted by: M/M | July 02, 2011 at 02:06 PM