"we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
That's called deciding to win.
#declarationofindependence
Americans must reckon with the fact that President Donald Trump’s administration has largely abandoned the principles underpinning the Declaration of Independence. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/07/11/world/trumps-rejects-americas-founding-principles/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #declarationofindependence #usconstitution #donaldtrump #us #immigration #trade
The Constitution Study podcast: 481 - Independence Day https://buff.ly/Rc965xZ #Constitution #DeclarationOfIndependence #America #patriotism
A coalition to reiterate the #USA 's self-evident truths in defense of #democracy, I think. I like the idea, the #DeclarationOfIndependence ought to a common starting point. I'm curious to see where it goes.
The #DeclarationOfIndependence . READ IT IN FULL! https://tinyurl.com/dvuj3xey . Then read, in full, #JudgeLuttig 's assessment that it all applies today! Twenty-seven truths about #America . https://tinyurl.com/mr44kn5y . And his interview about it: https://tinyurl.com/mtt6y5zr #Politics
"We need to both recognize the situation we're in and start talking about what we're going to do about it."
"The first part of the #declarationOfIndependence is laying down a set of principles & explaining how the colonists have been living or had been living under tyranny & that their rights were violated by the king.."
"A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes wich impel them to the separation."
A quotation from Thomas Jefferson
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.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Document (1776-07-02), “Declaration of Independence”
Sourcing, notes, other versions: wist.info/jefferson-thomas/220…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thomasjefferson #declarationofindependence #absolutepower #custom #despot #despotism #endurance #government #inertia #overthrow #putupwith #rebellion #revolution #suffering #tyranny
Great discussion. I could listen to this exchange all day. In 7 short minutes Ken Burns and Ryan Holiday are like two skilled forensic detectives tracing back lines of essential American virtues and sins. Wonderful.
Jefferson had the vision of democracy but lacked the will to embody it. Washington was a rare "strong man" with the strength of character to relinquish his power.
My new series leading up to the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.
The American Revolution in Appalachia series will discuss the people, places, and events that were involved in creating a new nation. This is not focused on modern day #politics but telling all sides of how the Country became a #nation.
Episode one has been uploaded today: The Western Theater.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq9nP2ZUTmA
#DeclarationofIndependence #America #USA #Appalachia #Appalachians
A 249-year-old indictment looks unfortunately current today
The Declaration of Independence is worth reading on any Fourth of July for its preamble alone, which sets out a concise mission statement for the United States and any just government: to secure “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” and other “inalienable Rights” for everyone.
But on this July 4, the Declaration’s third segment–its list of 27 offenses charged against King George III–seems relevant in ways that I wish it were not. At least nine of them appear applicable to the actions of the vainglorious man in the White House who does not want to be bothered with opposition and likes being compared to a king.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Is there another way to describe Trump’s repeated flouting of the law imposing a commercial ban on TikTok? That statute may not be wholesome or necessary, but its provisions are clear and have been upheld by the Supreme Court. Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE minions have also ignored the law to try to dismantle agencies and offices created by Congress, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Institute of Peace.
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.
Trump imposing yet another travel ban that mainly targets Muslim and brown people was one of the least surprising developments of the first 100 days of his second term. His attempts to deport legal permanent residents–who often happen to be Muslim or brown–solely because of their speech have been only a little less surprising.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
How else would you describe ICE raids across American cities, which should only escalate now that the budget-busting reconcilation bill will vastly increase that agency’s power?
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
Trump illegally took command of the California National Guard and deployed it in Los Angeles without the consent of California’s government, Judge Charles Breyer found in a ruling since stayed on appeal. During a June hearing, Breyer commented that this limit of presidential authority represented “the difference between a constitutional government and King George.”
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
If we may consider ICE a militarized agency–which seems fair enough, given how often its personnel have been showing up in uniforms and with weapons as if an L.A. swap meet were Fallujah–then you can consider Trump guilty of this charge. ICE’s leadership, in turn, keeps acting and speaking as if their mission is far too important to be held up by the usual legal niceties.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
Tariffs are taxes, even if American customers don’t pay them directly to the government, and the U.S. Court for International Trade found in May that the 1977 law that Trump has cited did not give him authority to impose them.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
The Trump administration has repeatedly argued that unauthorized immigrants–a status that it alone gets to determine–are not entitled to the due-process rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
This administration sees fit to deport those alleged unauthorized immigrants to foreign hellholes like El Salvador’s CECOT.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
Trump’s attempt to vacate the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship with an executive order is a grotesque attack on a fundamental part of our republic–one that the Supreme Court has yet to throw out as the unconstitutional trash that it is.
President Trump has not, however, “dissolved Representative Houses” or “refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected.” And the time is coming near for Americans once again to vote for their representatives–which, in two of the original 13 colonies named on the Declaration, my home state of New Jersey and my adopted state of Virginia, happens not next November but this fall in statewide elections. Protest and organize now, but do not neglect your opportunity then to instruct this government that it does not have the consent of you, the governed.
#13Colonies #13States #Constitution #DeclarationOfIndependence #DonaldTrump #FourthOfJuly #History #IndependenceDay #indictment #July4 #KingGeorgeIII #NewJerseyElections #NoKings #politics #PresidentTrump #VirginiaElections
"There are twenty-seven specific complaints against the British Crown set forth in the Declaration of Independence. To modern ears they still sound reasonable. They still sound reasonable, in large part, because so many of them can be leveled against the federal government of the United States."
#PJORourke, 1991
The #DeclarationOfIndependence . READ IT IN FULL! https://tinyurl.com/dvuj3xey . Then read, in full, #JudgeLuttig 's assessment that it all applies today! Twenty-seven truths about #America . https://tinyurl.com/mr44kn5y . And his interview about it: https://tinyurl.com/mtt6y5zr #Politics
#JudgeLuttig on #America , the #FourthOfJuly , and the #DeclarationOfIndependence . https://tinyurl.com/mtt6y5zr #Politics
Not as Self-Evident as Some Would Have You Believe
Some things are indeed self-evident. Some of that evidence gets white washed away.
https://youtu.be/_kEZCmdnVpc?si=ieA8JA4knxU2bJgF
This video was created as an ad by Ancestry.com to encourage folks to use that service to learn more about their ancestry. It feels particularly relevant again on this 4th of July, 2025.
I can’t vouch for the claim that all of those pictured are actual descendants of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. I can claim that I’d like that to be the case, because to my mind it would be a nice addition to the mythology surrounding this country’s founding and almost 250 years of existence, now that what those who did the signing actually stood for is under threat.
History may be written by the victors. But there’s always more than what the chapters convey.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Happy US Independence Day!
A very traditional reading assignment to go with the parades, hot dogs, and fireworks.
Read it out loud!
#uspol #IndependenceDay #DeclarationOfIndependence
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
#TheMetalDogArticleList
#Metal
21 Rock + Metal Artists Showing Patriotism
See photos of rock and metal artists showing patriotism by wearing the American flag onstage or sporting it in some other way. Continue reading…
https://loudwire.com/patriotic-rock-metal-artists/
#Rock #Metal #Patriotism #FourthOfJuly #USA #DeclarationOfIndependence #GreatBritain #UnitedStates #Artists #America
Today is July 4th and this document feels more relevant than ever:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
Read it, preferably out loud and in public.
“The history of the present king…is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states”
An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence
May I suggest that we all read the document on this day and consider the conditions that brought it about as they relate to the conditions we find ourselves in today.
#fourthofjuly #declarationofindependence
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkFxD-CMlZM
(Not for nothing, but I'd really love to see a video like this made for The Great Law of Peace.)
#IndependenceDay #DeclarationOfIndependence #HeatherCoxRichardson #Haudenosaunee #Gayanashagowa
Independence From Empire Day 2025
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/07/04/independence-from-empire-day-2025/
The former American republic is now an empire, the type of government from which Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues violently seceded, writes Andrew P. Napolitano. By Andrew P. Napolitano We are independent of London, but are we independent of Washington?…
#Politics #AmericanEmpire #CivilRights #Commentary #Constitution #Legal #Militarism #TrumpAdministration #U.s. #U.s.SupremeCourrt #UnitedKingdon #UntilThisDayHistoricalPerspectivesOnTheNews #AndrewP.Napolitano #ContinentalCongress #DeclarationOfIndependence #KingGeorgeIii #ThomasJefferson
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